Since you've been gone
by Team Frank
Summary: After 13 years away, Peyton returns to Tree Hill to find that everything she knew and took for granted has changed. Jeyton with maybe a mystery pairing later on, if I'm feeling nice. R&R!
1. Number One

**Hi – thought I'd write you guys a little note…**

**This is my first fanfic, so I'll seriously appreciate constructive criticism – the more helpful comments the better. I'm not from the US of A, so if there's anything I've got wrong, forgive me but do tell me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the One Tree Hill guys, though at times (ok, all the time) I do wish I owned Lucas…**

**Basically this is a story about Tree Hill, with a few minor changes. Brooke really was pregnant when she told Lucas she was, and Dan died from the heart attack he had at the end of season one. The timings are so that Peyton left sort of at the beginning of season two.**

**By the way, my 'garden' is the USA's 'lawn', I guess.**

**Enjoy! (And review…)**

**TF**

**Since you've been gone…**

Peyton Sawyer silently pulled up outside the large suburban house and thought about the day, thirteen years ago, that she left.

_She had wanted to get away. Away from all the stress and the drama. When you live in a small town like Tree Hill, everyone knows each other's business. It's impossible to forget things and move on. When you live in a small town like Tree Hill, things like that don't happen._

Sitting in the car, Peyton looked carefully at 4217 South View Street. Was this the house she always thought Lucas Scott would someday buy? She supposed it was. Big but not too big, probably five or six bedrooms, with a perfect front garden and a pool in the back.

When she decided to return to her home town, Peyton also decided that the first person she wanted to see was Lucas. He had made it pretty big playing basketball for the Wilmington Seahawks, and she only had to look on a couple of fan websites to find out where he lived, with a wife and two children. So Peyton missed her chance there. But hey, if you are going to run off to Georgia…

_Peyton's dad Larry was working down at the coast, and after he left, she went to stay with her cousins in Atlanta. Soon after that she got a big graphic design job which was followed shortly by premises for a new club. With the excitement of her career she almost forgot about Tree Hill. But only almost. And then she met Nick._

As Peyton walked up to Lucas's front door, she realised that she knew he had a family, but she had no idea who he had married. Was it someone new or someone from the good (ha!) old days; Anna, Brooke… oh god, not Haley? Peyton regained her composure and rang the doorbell. There was silence for a few seconds, then the sound of stilettos on wood.

A dark haired, very beautiful woman opened the door and looked Peyton up and down with disdain. Peyton realised she must look pretty scruffy – her oldest pair of jeans, Converse, minimal make up and a top that read _'I think you've mistaken me for someone who gives a damn.'_

"Yes?" The woman opened the door some more.

"Um, I was wondering, is Lucas in?"

"And who shall I say it is?" the woman sighed, as if she had to deal with this all the time.

Peyton had to think for a second and then replied "Peyton Sawyer."

"Wait, like _the _Peyton? Oh my god, Lucas will just die when he hears you've come back!" The woman had lost her icy front and was now more like a hyperactive child. "And you know Brooke, right? Oh, of course you know Brooke… Luke, Brooke!" she shrieked.

As Lucas and Brooke came to the door, Peyton was amazed at how different Brooke looked. She had watched Lucas's games on TV – the only contact she let herself have with her old life – and he just looked a tiny bit older and a tiny bit hotter, but Brooke. She was still as glamorous and attractive as ever, but she looked… older somehow, more world weary. And pregnant; she must have been at least five months gone.

"I'll go and keep an eye on Callie." The woman disappeared, leaving Lucas and Brooke in the hallway staring in disbelief at Peyton.

"Peyton." Brooke said softly. "Oh my god, Peyton!" Out of the blue Brooke ran to her oldest, best friend and hugged her tight. Lucas joined in.

"Are you alright?" he asked, breaking away. Peyton realised a tear had trickled down her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She wiped it away.

"I can't believe you're actually here. We missed you so much, Peyton. Where the hell have you been?"

"Oh, I don't want to talk about me. I want to hear about you!"


	2. Same?

**Here goes chapter 2…**

"Ok, so I'm just going to ask instead of wonder." Peyton continued as Lucas shut the door behind her and Brooke. "Are you two… you know, together?"

"Oh, no."

"No way!" Lucas and Brooke said simultaneously. Lucas continued.

"That was Samantha who opened the door, my wife. Brooke's just here to pick up Tristan."

"Oh. Tristan?"

Brooke went over to the stairs and shouted up.

"Tristan, Katie!"

"What?" a voice, who Peyton guessed was Tristan, shouted back.

"Peyton's here to meet you." Lucas replied.

"Like, _the _Peyton?" Two children ran down the stairs. A young girl and a pre-pubescent boy stood and stared at the woman their parents talked about so much.

"So," Brooke prompted. "Introduce yourselves."

The girl stepped forward.

"I'm Katie Karen Scott. I'm nearly five. This is my daddy." She pointed at Lucas, then at Tristan. "This is my half brother. My mommy is in the kitchen. That's all. Thank you." Katie stepped back.

Lucas laughed and looked at Tristan.

"Um, I'm Tristan Daniel Scott-Davis." He began reluctantly. "I'm twelve. I live with mom – Brooke – but I come and stay with Lucas – Dad – every weekend."

"Right honey, can you go and pack your stuff? I'm going for dinner with Ross and we need to pick up the sitter." Brooke started leading Tristan towards the stairs.

"But mom, can't I just stay here and then you can pick me up later? Please?"

Brooke looked at Lucas.

"It's ok with me." Lucas said.

"Yes!" Tristan raced back up the stairs, closely followed by Katie. Lucas led Peyton to the kitchen and asked Brooke if she had time for coffee.

"Oh, what the hell, yeah." She replied.

When the coffee was made (and Peyton had been properly introduced to Samantha and little Callie Emma, Samantha and Lucas's second), Brooke, Lucas and Peyton sat down at the kitchen table.

"So, who's Ross?" Peyton asked, and Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Ah, Ross Santini." He sighed.

"My boyfriend. Lucas doesn't approve." Brooke giggled. "He's the daddy of my little girl here." She patted her stomach. "Ross, not Lucas."

"It's a girl? Lucas butted in. "But I thought-"

"Tree Hill doctors don't tell you the sex of the baby, yeah. But I want a girl, and what Brooke Davis wants, Brooke Davis gets."

"Ah, you haven't changed one bit." Peyton took a sip of her coffee. "What about Haley and Nathan?"

"Together and still married, surprisingly. They managed to make up after Haley got back from her tour." Lucas started.

"Her _tour_?" Peyton almost choked.

"I'll explain later. Anyway, now they have three kids, and one on the way."

"We're going to be baby buddies." Brooke whispered.

"Are they still in Tree Hill?"

"They live over the other side of town. On the same road as Jake, actually."

"Jake!" This time Peyton almost spilled her coffee.

"Ah, I knew that would interest you. Yeah, Jake. He came back – what was it, six years ago? Anyway, Jenny's like fourteen now."

"And … is he single?" Peyton asked.

"Honestly P. Sawyer, you and your lust! No, I'm afraid he lives with his fiancée. What was her name, Lucas?"

"Um, Carla. Look, I'm going to call Haley and Nathan, tell them the good news." Lucas got up from the table and went into the hallway.

"So, Peyton." Brooke moved closer. "As far as I know, you were at a wedding in New Jersey…"

_Brooke remembered the day like it was yesterday. There was a letter on the kitchen table addressed "BROOKE". She opened it and started reading._

_**Dear Brooke,**_

_**I'm not at a wedding and I'm not coming back the day after tomorrow. I can't tell you where I'm going, because I know you'll try to find me. Don't worry about me – I'll come back in my own time. I'm so sorry for what I did to you – it was wrong and you didn't deserve it. You'll always be my best friend. Tell Lucas, Haley and Nathan I love them.**_

_**I just had to get away.**_

_**P x**_

_They – Brooke, Lucas, Haley and Nathan had put up a few posters and placed a few ads, but, as they expected, it didn't come to anything. Peyton was an impulsive person. And impulse could have taken her pretty much anywhere – the west coast, New York, even Europe if she really got carried away. Then Brooke had Tristan and Haley found out she pregnant too, so they had all just got on with their lives and waited for Peyton to come back._

Peyton told Brooke all about Georgia, all about her career, and all about Nick.

"You were engaged and he dumped you!" Brooke exclaimed. "And they say chivalry is dead."

"Yeah. Anyway, it made me think about what I wanted to do with my life, and I thought 'Hey, let's go back to Tree Hill!', and here I am."

"And here you are."

Lucas re-entered the room.

"You took a long time." Brooke remarked.

"I was checking up on Katie and Tristan." He replied.

"Everything ok?"

"Oh, Katie was calling Tristan 'Tristie' and making him play Barbie, but apart from that, yeah."

Peyton laughed. "Is she always like that?"

"Pretty much. Katie has a huge crush on Tristan, and he plays along with it because well, I guess he likes the attention." Lucas said.

"A child of Brooke Davis's, liking attention? Never!" Peyton laughed, her smile dripping with friendly sarcasm. Brooke playfully punched her on the arm.

Anyway, Haley and Nathan are free tomorrow, if you want to see them."

"Sure." Peyton nodded.

"I can pick you up if you like. Where are you staying?"

Peyton put down her cup and looked up at Lucas.

"Yeah, I meant to talk to you about that…"


	3. Lovely 2 C U

**Hi! Sorry it's taken me so long to update – I've had no internet connection for weeks!**

**I've just seen the episode where Jake comes back the day after the prom (it's only just been shown in the UK), but in my version he still took six years to return. **

**(And Haley didn't kiss Chris either – I hated that!)**

**Please review! I really want to know what you guys think!**

**Enjoy…**

Peyton blinked. It took her a few seconds to work out that she was no longer in Georgia with Nick in the bed beside her; in fact she was in the spare bedroom in Lucas's house.

She got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. Katie and Callie were at the table and Lucas was making waffles. He looked at Peyton and wolf whistled. Once again, she realised that she wasn't exactly appropriately dressed – this time it was a strappy camisole and tiny shorts.

"You wouldn't be trying to seduce me, would you?" Lucas joked as he took a waffle out of the machine and handed it to Katie.

"Oh God, no!" Peyton laughed. "I'll go and change." She returned a couple of minutes later wearing a khaki skirt and a black spaghetti top. Lucas and the girls were at the table eating.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Sure." Lucas pulled out a chair. "Samantha's at the gym. Apparently she's still working off Callie."

Peyton looked at the clock. It was only quarter past eight.

"She's an early bird." Lucas explained. "We were thinking maybe breakfast and then straight over to Haley and Nathan's, so we'll get there around nine?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Haley and Nathan's!" Katie exclaimed. "Daddy, you didn't tell me we were going to Haley and Nathan's!"

"'Aley! Nafun!" Callie chorused.

Peyton looked at Lucas.

"Their youngest, Laura." Was all he had to say.

"She's my best friend." Said Katie proudly.

Lucas explained that Samantha had to work – even though it was a Sunday – so they left a note on the kitchen table for her and set off for Haley and Nathan's.

As they drew up outside the house, it became clear to Peyton that it was very different to Lucas's. Not just the size – there were toys all over the garden, the inside of the car was covered in crumbs and stray crisps, and one of the windows had a baseball sized hole in it.

Lucas didn't even knock; he just opened the door, went in and called out "Hales! Carter threw a baseball through the window again!"

Haley, wearing a sweater, jeans and a baby bump, hurried to where Peyton and Lucas – with Callie in his arms - were standing in the hallway – Katie had already run off.

"Peyton! It's so good to see you!" Haley gave Peyton a hug and Lucas a peck on the cheek, then shouted up the stairs. "Kids!"

Thundering down the stairs came two older boys and a younger girl holding hands with Katie.

"Line." Haley said.

The kids formed a line and the oldest boy opened his mouth to speak.

"Is there like a rulebook for parents in this town or something?" Peyton whispered in Lucas's ear.

Lucas was going to whisper back but got cut off by the boy.

"My name is Carter Nathan Scott, and I'm 11. On behalf of my siblings, I'd like to welcome you back to Tree Hill."

"Oh, Haley totally didn't write that." Peyton whispered. Once again, Lucas's reply was cut off, this time by the younger boy.

"I'm Ryan James Scott, and I'm eight. Mom stays at home with us and Dad is the basketball coach at the high school."

"I'm Laura Jessica Scott – I'm four. I like ballet and singing. Mommy is teaching me to play keyboard. And I hate basketball."

"Ok, now you three –" Haley indicated Laura, Katie and Ryan "can go upstairs. Carter, I want to talk to you about that window."

"But Mom…" Carter moaned.

"No buts. Luke, you can take Peyton into the kitchen – Nathan's in there working out game stats. Oh, Brooke's bringing Tristan round later."

Peyton and Lucas wandered into the kitchen, where Nathan was pacing. He didn't look up.

"Oh by the way Hales, I don't think I told you how much I enjoyed last night." Peyton started to speak but he cut her off. "Thirteen years and three kids later and we've still got the heat!" he looked up to see Peyton and Lucas smiling at him, and blushed ever so slightly. "Peyton, Luke. Coffee?"


	4. Compliments

**Ok, this is a relatively long chapter, so bear with me…**

"Haley, when can I look? These heels are killing me!" Peyton moaned as Haley led her into a dark hall.

"Ok… now!" The light switched on and a chorus of "Welcome Home!" came from around the room.

Peyton spotted Lucas, Nathan and Brooke amongst the crowd and walked towards them. Tristan was talking to Lucas and Carter, Ryan and Laura were apparently wrestling Nathan. Brooke greeted Peyton.

"Nathan won't let them go outside to play." She whispered. "Now Tristan, he knows how to manipulate Luke so he'll let him. He inherited that from me." Peyton laughed and Brooke smiled. "It's so great having you back, PS."

"It's great to be back, B. Davis."

Brooke gestured behind Peyton, winked and walked away. Peyton turned around and saw Jake smiling at her.

"Jake, hi!" They hugged and then Jake looked Peyton up and down.

"Wow. So you're still as beautiful as you ever were." Peyton murmured thanks and blushed. "If a bit older." Jake added and they both laughed. "Do you want to go outside?"

The garden was at the back of the hall Haley had hired, and it had an amazing view of Tree Hill. The sun was just setting and it was amazingly romantic. Peyton and Jake sat down on a bench in the corner and shared life stories.

"So Jenny's 14 now, starting Tree Hill in the fall. I'm going to strongly discourage her to be a cheerleader." Jake said.

"Uh huh?"

"Too much drama."

Peyton smiled.

"Plus, she's like the lest cheery person I know. Apart from Lucas, that is. She's more into computers and art. A lot like you when you were at high school. Not as good-looking as you, though. I'm afraid she takes after me rather than her mom."

"Don't put yourself down. If you were a girl, you would be so much more attractive than Nicki ever was." Peyton joked.

"Thanks." Jake replied.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Jake spoke again.

"Why did we never get together, Peyton?"

"I guess, after my previous guys, I was afraid to trust my instincts. I mean, Nathan and Lucas weren't exactly perfect boyfriend material. And I didn't realise you were until it was too late and you'd gone."

"You know, I thought about that kiss you gave me all the way to Savannah. And when I got there."

Peyton and Jake made eye contact and it stuck. They moved closer and closer together; their heads tilted… and Carter, Ryan and Laura came bursting out of the door into the garden.

Which was probably just as well, because following them was a petite blonde who was smiling at Jake.

"Carla, this is my old friend Peyton, Peyton, this is my fiancée Carla."

"Hi." Carla shook Peyton's hand. "Jake, can I talk to you for a second?"

"I'll go inside." Peyton said quickly, slightly embarrassed about what had just happened, and hurried inside. Brooke was in the corner with a dark haired man who was whispering in her ear. She was giggling. Peyton walked over and Brooke stood up.

"Peyton, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Ross."

"How do you do?" Ross shook Peyton's hand and she noticed that he looked strangely like Felix. He had the same way of checking you out too.

"Anyway, I'm gonna crash. I've got a job interview tomorrow." Peyton said. "Tell Haley thanks for organising this. See you later."

"Oh, ok. Bye. See you tomorrow."

As she left, Peyton felt a twinge of guilt. All this wasn't strictly true. She did have a job interview the next day, but it wasn't until three. It was just seeing all the couples – Haley and Nathan, Brooke and Ross, Lucas and Samantha and then Jake and Carla. They all seemed truly happy, like Peyton had never been. Despite her best efforts to convince herself that her career was all she wanted, but she knew deep down inside that she just wanted to be loved, and to be happy.


	5. Time out from the world

**Hi guys – thanks for all the reviews – they make my day! Keep them coming – I love to know what you think (good or bad!). So just press on the little button at the bottom and take a minute or so to make me feel good!**

**Hope you like this chapter – I know it's what a lot of you reviewers want!**

Peyton arrived at Jake's around 3pm. He had called her and invited her over, saying he was lonely because Carla was away for the weekend. When she got there, she plugged her mobile in – it had no battery – and then she and Jake had just talked about everything – Jenny, Nicki, the old days, love and life. For dinner Jake ordered pizza from the same place they had eaten out of the first time Peyton babysat for Jenny.

"God, this brings back memories." Peyton remarked between mouthfuls.

"Doesn't it?" Just then the phone rang and Jake got up to answer it. For the first time Peyton took a proper look around his living room. On the mantelpiece was still that picture of their high school basketball team, then there were a couple of pictures of Jenny and a few of Jake and Carla. She was studying one of them when Jake spoke from beside her.

"That was when we went down to Charleston and I proposed to her."

"Huh?" Peyton didn't realise who Jake was talking about, but quickly worked it out. " Oh, Carla. Um, where did you meet?"

"Karen's café, actually. I was working there when I first came back, and she walked straight in and asked for a coffee with a date on the side." Jake's eyes misted over. "Anyway, that was Jenny on the phone – she's staying at her friends for the night, so I guess I've got the place to myself."

"Ooh, you should have a party!"

"No, I'd rather spend it with you." Jake sat down on the sofa and beckoned for Peyton to join him.

"Kiss me."

"What!" Peyton exclaimed.

"Kiss me. I want to know what it feels like." He repeated.

"But Carla…"

"Is out of the picture. We broke up yesterday. She came over and said there was someone else, and she didn't love me anymore. So kiss me."

"Oh Jake…"

Peyton leant in and met his request.

**(Ok there should be an asterisk here but it wouldn't let me do it - grr. Anyway, 'asterisk here')**

It felt good to wake up next to someone again. It felt slightly worse to wake up next to someone who had just broken up with his fiancée when you had too. But that was all made up for when Peyton thought about the fact that she was waking up next to Jake.

"Hey." He smiled and kissed her. "That was awesome."

"It was, wasn't it?" Peyton looked at the clock. It read 8.45 in the evening. She hadn't even been at Jake's six hours and here she was, lying in bed next to him. But she didn't feel bad about herself – she was happier than she had been in a long time.

Peyton got out of bed, washed her hands and smiled at herself in the mirror.


	6. Gleaming Auction

**Hi again – hope you like this chapter. **

**Thanks a lot to all my reviewers, but especially **LilAngel413** and **jeytonlover **– it's you two who have really spurred me on! If you haven't read them already, check out 9 Months: Project Baby and Just Friends by LilAngel413 (page 185 under 'L' in the directory)– they are great!**

**By the way, does anyone know whether I can use lines from One Tree Hill in a fanfic or is it breach of copyright or something? If you do, let me know. Thanks! **

"Hello?" Lucas picked up his cellphone.

"Hi Luke, it's Nathan. Um, Haley's went into labour a couple of hours ago. She's only about three centimetres dilated, but she's been asking for you guys. Can you come up?"

"Sure. I'll see you soon." Lucas pressed the 'end call' button and went into the kitchen. "Brooke, Haley's having the baby and she wants us to go."

Brooke being at Lucas's when important things happened was starting to become a bit of a pattern – first Peyton and now this? It was weird, admittedly.

"Oh, ok. I'm just gonna go, you know, take a leak. Oh by the way, if you're gonna try Peyton, she said she was going over to Jake's." Brooke got up from the table.

"I'll ring her cell." Lucas dialled her number and got put straight through to voicemail.

"Hi, this is Peyton Sawyer, please leave a message."

"Hi, Peyton this is Luke. Haley's gone into labour and she's asking for you. Come to the hospital as soon as you can."

When Brooke came back from the bathroom, Lucas drove them both to the hospital. Nathan was waiting in reception.

"Guys, I'm so glad you could come. Haley's going crazy in there. She said she'd do this one with no pain meds but I don't think she's going to make it." He noticed the absence of one of his best friends. "Where's Peyton?"

"Her cell was off." Lucas explained.

"Right. Anyway, I think you can go in to see Haley now."

Haley was sitting upright in her bed, scribbling in a notebook.

"Watchya doing Hales?" Lucas asked.

"Writing a song." Came the reply. Lucas turned to Brooke.

"Even when in labour, Haley James Scott just can't stop working." He joked.

"Do you want some ice chips or something?" Brooke offered.

"I'm all set, thanks." Haley replied, holding up a plastic cup.

"How are you managing without the pain meds?" Brooke sat down at the side of the bed.

"Ok, at the moment."

"I tried with Tristan, but apparently I was making too much noise and I was disturbing the other patients, so the docs had no other choice but to give me them." Brooke sighed dramatically.

Lucas laughed.

"If I remember correctly, you were screaming out for an epidural after the first five minutes." He knew this was the way things really went.

"Shut up, liar." Brooke hit him playfully on the head.

Four hours later, five minutes after midnight, Haley gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Nathan went to the waiting room and woke Lucas, who, along with Brooke, had fallen asleep.

"What?" He murmured sleepily.

"Haley had a little girl. Do you wanna come see them?"

"Sure, I'll just get Brooke."

As Nathan walked back to the maternity ward, Lucas wrestled with himself as to whether to wake Brooke or not. She looked so beautiful when she was asleep. There was a stray hair placed across her face, and as he reached to move it, she stirred.

"Huh?" She blinked and opened her eyes.

"Haley had the baby, a girl. Nathan said we could see them if we wanted to.

"Oh, yeah." Brooke got her bag and she and Lucas went to find Haley's ward. For such a small town, Tree Hill sure had a complicated hospital.

After about fifteen minutes of walking round in circles, they realised that they were going in completely the wrong direction, turned round and walked the other way.

"Hey." Brooke said softly as she opened the door to Haley's room. There were two beds but the other was empty. Haley was sitting up in the bed and Nathan was holding a tiny baby in his arms. He offered her to Brooke.

"Oh she's lovely you guys. Well, with you two as parents, she's not exactly going to be ugly, is she?"

"So, have you named her yet?" Lucas asked as Brooke passed the baby to him.

"Not yet." Haley sighed. "I love Elise, but Nathan hates it, so we haven't decided as such."

"You know, you guys should go home and get some rest. I can hold the fort here." Nathan smiled.

Lucas and Brooke said their goodbyes and then got back into Lucas's car. They were almost back at Brooke and Ross's apartment when Brooke gasped.

"Oh my god."

"What? What is it?" Lucas pulled up at the side of the road.

"I think… I think my waters just broke."


	7. Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

**Hi!**

**So in my disclaimer I said I didn't own any of the characters, but I guess, since I made them up I own Samantha, Ross, Tristan, Lucas's girls, Naley's kids (and the baby girl), and Brooke's baby.**

**Can you help me out here? I really want to know what the song was at the end of episode 2:13 (The Hero Dies In This One) 'cause I loved it! If you know what it is, pleeeeeeeeeeez tell me!**

**Ok, if for some strange reason you didn't just read chapter 6, here's what happened at the end – Brooke said…**

"I think… I think my waters just broke."

"Ha ha, very funny. Now can we get home? I am so-" Brooke cut Lucas off.

"No Luke, my waters really did just break."

"What? But you're like, a month early."

"I know, so can you please just turn this frikkin' car around and get me to a hospital!"

Brooke had three contractions on the way to the hospital, which was not good, considering that the baby was early and every time Brooke started telling herself to breathe, Lucas got scared that he's have to deliver the baby himself.

When they finally got back to the hospital, Lucas checked Brooke in and went to call Ross and Samantha, and try Peyton again. Nathan was getting a drink in the waiting room when Lucas passed.

"Hey man, did you forget something?"

"Um, not exactly. Brooke went into labour." Lucas replied, shoving his hands in his pockets in that Lucas-Scott way of his.

"Oh. But isn't it early? I thought Brooke and Haley's due dates were like a month apart. And Haley's due date was yesterday, so…" Nathan left the statement hanging in the air.

"Yeah. But they've got her in good hands. She'll be fine."

Lucas and Nathan half-heartedly hit knuckles – well, Nathan had been up all night and Lucas was worried sick about Brooke – then Lucas went to the payphone and dialled Brooke's home number.

"Brooke?" Ross answered the phone, half asleep.

"No, it's Lucas. Listen –"

"Lucas?" Ross acted like he didn't recognise the name just to annoy him.

"Tristan's dad. Anyway, Brooke's gone into labour so I'd suggest –"

"You mean like she's having the baby?" Ross cut Lucas off again.

"Yes, like she's having the baby." Lucas replied tersely. God, this man got on his nerves.

"But it's the middle of the night!" Ross cried.

"Yeah, but your baby-" Lucas accentuated the 'your' "-doesn't know that. Just get here, will you?" He hung up before Ross could retaliate.

Next Lucas left a message on his home phone. If the phone rang in the night, Samantha left it until Lucas went to get it.

"Hi Samantha, it's Luke. Sorry I'm not home yet, but Haley had a baby girl and Brooke… well, Brooke went into labour, so I'll probably be here a while. Say hi to the girls for me. Love you."

Instead of ringing Peyton, Lucas sent her a text, and tried to decide whether to wait for Ross or not.

He waited for a quarter of an hour, but there was no sign of him, so Lucas went back to Brooke.

**Ok, I was wondering if any of my readers from the USA could help me out here. Our class are doing a project on schools around the world, and I've got the United States. I thought any information I get from a real American citizen would be better than getting something off the internet, so if you have a little spare time, tell me about your school (what time you start and finish, subjects you do, how many pupils you have in a class, extra-curricular activities and holidays etc.) You can do this by sending me a review and put it in there, or send me an email (my address should be on my profile page). Thank you!**


	8. Your boyfriend sucks

**Hey! Thank you so much Elizabeth, Mia andGrace ****for reviewing and telling me about your schools in the USA. It was really useful and I got an E1 on my project – I guess that's like an A! Yay!**

**Plus, thanks to LilAngel413 for telling me about using lines from the show.**

**By the way, I finally decided to name my chapters after songs like the episodes.**

**And Grace, I live in England.**

**This is a slightly longer chapter I'm trying out, so tell me if you prefer them like this or if you like the shorter ones.**

It's too early!" Brooke whimpered. "It's too early, Luke."

Brooke was eight centimetres dilated, and there was still no Ross or Peyton. Nathan was still with Haley, so Lucas was acting as a substitute dad for Brooke. He didn't really mind – the day Tristan was born was the happiest of his life – he could relive it today, right?

Wrong.

"Where the hell is Ross!" Brooke was having major mood swings. One minute she was crying and scared because the baby was early, the next she was mad at Ross for not turning up. The contractions were the worst part; even with pain medication, she was still in agony.

"Ok, I'm just going to check how far you're dilated, Brooke." A pretty, young midwife came into the room and Lucas decided to give Brooke some privacy. He saw Nathan waiting outside.

"How's Haley doing?" Lucas opened the door and stood next to him.

"She's alright… What about Brooke?"

"I honestly don't know. Not good. But she's going to be ok, though." Lucas said, trying to reassure himself as much as anything. "Have you decided on a name for Little Miss Scott yet?"

"Um, yeah."

"Well?"

Before Nathan could reply, the door to Brooke's room opened and Brooke was wheeled out on her bed.

"What? What's happening?"

"She's nine and a half centimetres gone, so we're taking her up to delivery."

"Luke, please come." Brooke was obviously scared, and Lucas had no choice but to go with her.

"Nate, can you go and see if Ross is here yet?" He called down the corridor.

"Sure thing." Nathan called back.

When they got to the delivery room, Lucas stopped outside.

"Luke, come in. Please." Brooke was close to tears.

Lucas followed her in and decided that the safest option would be to stand by her and hold her hand.

"Thanks for doing this, Lucas." Brooke looked up at him. "It really means a lot to me."

"Then it's no problem." Lucas replied, smiling.

"Ok, Brooke, you're going to have to push in a few moments." The midwife called from the other end of the bed.

"Luke, I don't want to. I'm so scared." A tear trickled down Brooke's cheek.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Lucas gripped her hand.

"Ok, now push!"

Lucas winced as Brooke squeezed his hand _really _hard.

"Come on Brooke!"

"It hurts, Lucas."

"Just push and it'll all be over soon." He reassured her.

Brooke pushed.

"Oh god… she's breached."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"What did I miss?" Ross asked arrogantly as he strode into Brooke's ward, twenty minutes later.

"Oh, only the birth of your child." Brooke snapped back.

Ross remained silent, so she carried on.

"And then he came out _Ross_- sorry, _ass _first-" Lucas suppressed a snigger. He had promised to stay with Brooke until Ross turned up. "-so they had to get him out and take him to the special baby care unit. So, thanks for being here, Ross."

"Wait, did you just say he?"

"Unfortunately." Brooke muttered under her breath.

"Box! So, like, we can call him Ross, right?" Ross

"In your dreams."

"Shall I go?" Lucas grabbed his coat and made for the door. Boy, was that situation awkward.

"No, stay." Brooke called him back, and Ross glanced sideways at him.

"Wait, was he here when you…" 

"Yes, do you have a problem with that, boyfriend and father of the year?" Brooke said sarcastically.

"It's just…"

"Save it, Ross. Lucas realised I needed someone and was a great guy. _Is _a great guy." Brooke looked at Lucas and smiled.

"Whatever." Ross shrugged. "So where's my little Ross junior?" Ross left the room and went down the corridor

"Oh. My. God." Brooke closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Ok, tell me if I'm completely out of order, but why do you stay with him?" Lucas sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"No, don't worry about it." Brooke sighed. " Sometimes he can be amazingly sweet and he's the man I fell in love with. And then other times he's the complete jackass you just saw. I'm not sure why I thought he was ready to be the father of a child. It's not as if we planned it or anything…" She trailed off.

"Wow. That was… profound." Lucas remarked.

"I don't know what it is about you, Luke. I can talk to you. I can't do that with Ross." Brooke reached for Lucas's hand. "I really appreciate you doing this for me."

"What?"

Brooke gestured to the ward, her stomach and the small cot beside her.

"All this. Thanks."

"No problem."

Lucas leant in and gave Brooke a hug.

"And over my dead body are we naming him Ross."


	9. 24 hours

**Just going straight into this (quite short) chapter – sorry it's been a while updating.**

11am the morning after; Peyton unplugged her mobile and turned it on.

_1 missed call_

_1 new message_

She checked the voicemail.

"Hey Peyton, this is Luke. Haley's having the baby and she's asking for you. Come to the hospital as soon as you can." That was 7pm last night. Crap.

Peyton read the message.

_Eventful night. How much can happen in 24 hours? Haley had a little girl and Brooke's in labour. C u soon? Lucas. _

12.30am. Double crap.

"Jake!" Peyton shouted into the other room, where Jake had just got out of the shower.

"What?"

"I gotta get to the hospital. Brooke… well, she might have had the baby by now. I'll take my car."

"No, um, I'll drive you." Jake grabbed his keys.

"What about Jenny?"

"She should be home soon but she's got her own keys."

Just at the moment Jenny walked through the front door. Jake was right - Jenny wasn't pretty, but you could tell she was going to be attractive when she got older. She still had naturally blonde hair, but she had dyed it dark brown after looking at a picture of her mum. **(Sorry, _Mom…_) **Jake was despairing over it.

"Hi dad. Oh, hey Peyton. What are you doing here?"

Peyton and Jake looked at each other, smiled and Peyton bit her lip.

"Oh God, I don't want to know…" Jenny put down her bag and and walked towards her room.

"You'll be alright on your own for a couple of hours, won't you, Jen?" Jake called after her. She nodded.

"Was that embarrassing or what?" Jake laughed as he and Peyton got into his car.

"It came a close third to three guys coming into the locker room when I was half naked, while I was a sophomore." Peyton agreed.

"Third? That was only one."

"Oh, and tripping up at graduation." Peyton smiled. "Do you think Jenny will mind… me and you, you know?"

Jake sighed. "When Carla and I started dating, and I asked her if she was ok with it, she said that if I was happy, then she was happy. And… well, you make me really happy. She'll be fine."

When they got up to the hospital, Peyton went straight to the reception desk.

"Can you tell me where Brooke Davis and Haley James-Scott are?"

"And how are you related to the patients?" The receptionist asked.

"Huh?"

"We can only release room numbers to relatives."

"Well, Brooke's my sister and Haley's my, um, sister in law." Peyton lied.

"Right." The receptionist sounded as if she didn't really believe her, but looked up the rooms anyway.

"Maternity room 3."

"Sorry, is that Haley or Brooke?" Peyton leaned over, trying to see the computer screen.

"They're both in the same room."

"Oh, right."

After twenty minutes, Peyton finally found Maternity room 3 and poked her head round the door. Brooke and Haley were occupying the two beds.

"Hi!" Peyton whispered as she pulled Jake into the room.

"Oh my God, Mrs Jagielski, you totally stayed the night!" Brooke smiled wickedly.

"Shut up!" Peyton smiled and blushed at Haley. "So, how are you two doing?"

"Us four." Haley corrected her as she gestured to the two cots beside the beds.

"Oh yeah… So, are you going to introduce me or not?" Peyton picked up the baby next to Haley, dressed entirely in pink.

"That is Keira Elise Scott." Peyton jumped as Nathan came into the room and spoke from behind her.

"And this –" Brooke lifted up her baby "-is Jamie, um, _Ross _Santini."

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Anyway, P. Sawyer… Jagielski, fill me in on all the juicy details…"


	10. Childhood Dreams

**Chapter 10! I am so glad I am finally into double digits. My friend said she didn't like the chapters so short but I find it easier to write them that way. I can write them a little longer if you lot prefer.**

**I have just put a new fanfic up about Brooke before the junior year started – just a taster chapter at the moment but if I get some good reviews and ideas I'll carry on.**

**So here goes, my double digit chapter…**

"And Lucas Scott has an open net. He dribbles, shoots and scores! Three points for the Seahawks."

Everyone, with the exception of Samantha, Callie, Katie and Laura, had taken a group outing to a basketball game – a friendly between Wilmington and the Charlotte Bobcats. If it wasn't for Lucas, it would be a walkover.

Jamie and Keira were now two weeks old and, since they were born on the same day, Brooke and Haley both thought it would be amazingly romantic if they got together as a couple when they were older. Ross and Nathan weren't so keen, but the ladies were practically already planning the wedding.

"So, how are things going with Jake?" Haley shouted to Peyton over the noise of the game. Nathan had taken Keira out in an attempt to stop her crying.

"Well, I would say something really deep to make me sound smart, but the crowd would ruin it. Plus, I can't think of anything deep to say." Peyton replied, and Haley laughed. Peyton caught Jake's eye in the row behind and smiled. "No, things are going great."

"I really thought you were crazy when you said you were moving in with him so soon, but I guess it beats staying at Luke's, right?" Haley said.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Katie or Callie grew up with permanent scarring from the amount of screaming that goes on at night in that house. I can tell you, I was glad to get out."

"I always thought he'd be good at sex…" Haley said wistfully as she stared into the distance.

"Haley!" Peyton faked shock.

Haley smiled and pointed at the court. Lucas spun round two Bobcats and scored a perfect two-pointer.

"So, how's Jake?" Haley nudged Peyton.

"He's in the row behind us. Why don't you ask him how he is?" She laughed.

"You know what I mean…" Haley raised her eyebrows and put out her hand as if to say _'Come on, spill the juice.'_

"He's great." Peyton mouthed.

"Come on, you know I'm hopeless at lip reading!"

The crowd was getting louder and louder so Peyton thought she was safe with shouting.

"Haley, honestly! I said that Jake Jagielski is amazing in bed, OK!"

Haley laughed and Peyton blushed as they both realised that the audience had gone extremely quiet halfway through the last sentence, and everyone, including Jake, had heard everything.

…………………………………….

Later, after the game had finished, Lucas was hitching a ride with Brooke and Ross.

"Lucas…" Brooke said from the back seat. Lucas turned round to face her.

"Yeah?"

"You know on the day that Peyton came back, and you said Katie had a huge crush on Tristan?"

"Oh please, spare me!" Tristan moaned.

"Well, you do realise that he's her half brother, don't you?" Brooke continued.

"Oh God… Well, changing the subject…" Lucas said hastily. "Ok, it's supposed to be a secret because it's not finalised yet, but a scout from Charlotte was at the game tonight. And he was talking to me about going to play for the Bobcats." He smiled.

"Oh my god Lucas, that's great!" and "That is sooo cool!" Brooke and Tristan said at the same time.

"But you can't tell anyone, OK?"

"But what would you do about getting there?" Brooke asked. "You would have to drive like over an hour every time you had practice. And you can't move!" As if on cue, Jamie started to whimper.

"The scout said I'd have to go and live there, in Charlotte, for two months, but if they decided they really wanted me, they'd pay for my travel costs."

Brooke looked up.

"You would have to go for two months?"

Meanwhile, in Jake's car, Jake was driving Peyton and Jenny home. Peyton was changing the CD that had just finished.

"Put on the new Pussycat Dolls one!" Jenny tried to persuade her.

"I don't think so, Jen." Peyton laughed and slipped in her favourite Foo Fighters album.

"So Peyton." Jake lowered his voice. "Did you really mean what you said at the game to Haley?"

"Jake honey, a little lesson about Haley J-S. You cannot lie to her, because she will know. Which is bad sometimes, but good when guys 'overhear'-" Peyton added air commas to the last word. "-their girlfriends talking about how good he is in bed." She placed her hand on Jake's knee.

"I would kiss you right now," Jake smiled. "but I'm driving."

Jenny made a retching noise from the back.

"I am still here you know, and you're corrupting my youthful naivety."

But no one had heard her, because by now Jake had pulled over and he and Peyton were kissing in the front seat. Jenny called over the music.

"Hello?"

…**Ok, I know this is 13 years into the future, but it's easier if things have stayed the same technology-wise. (cars, music etc.) Just think of the CD of the future as the vinyl of today…**


	11. Hellos and Goodbyes

**In this chapter I felt I should tie up some loose ends about Carla and Jake, so I hope it sorts things out. (I was just flicking through my rough book and realised that I'd written 'Clara' half a dozen times, so I had to check this, but no, she's Carla.)**

**I know this isn't my best chapter, and not really a good one to take a break on (see later) but I needed a filler. Hope it's not too bad!**

**Ok, so after this chapter I'm going to have a short break to concentrate on finishing another story and my new OTH story. So savour this chapter – I should be back in a month or so!**

Another two weeks later and Lucas had decided to go to Charlotte, leaving today. Everyone had turned up at the Scott's house to wave him off.

Lucas came out with his last bag and dumped it in the boot of his car.

"Ok guys, I'm nearly going!" He announced before going off to say goodbye to Samantha and the girls.

"You know, I really don't want him to go." Brooke walked over to Peyton, with Jamie in her arms.

"Why not?"

"Well, when Jamie was born, Lucas was there and typically, Ross wasn't." Peyton looked over at Ross, who was flirting with Lucas's next door neighbour Sara. "And I know I shouldn't say it, but I kind of liked it. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we'd stayed together. If he's never met Samantha and I'd never met Ross. Do you think things would have worked out?"

"Ok, define 'if we'd stayed together' – before or after I came along and messed it all up?" Peyton smiled. "Look, there's no point in thinking about that now. He's got Samantha, and you've got Ross and your adorable little Jamie."

"I just think sometimes, that's all."

"Alright, so bye." Lucas climbed into his car and started up the engine. "I'll call when I get there. Bye!" He pulled out of the driveway very slowly, so he could say farewells to everyone. As he reached the end of the road, waved a final time and rounded the corner, Brooke felt a tiny tear trickle down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, hoping nobody had seen.

………………………………..

When Jake and Peyton got back to the house, there was an all too familiar face waiting on the doorstep, fanning herself in the July heat.

"Carla." Jake stepped up to the porch. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Jake, hi." Carla ran up to him and flung her arms around his neck. "And… Peyton, right?"

"Right."

"Can I talk to you, Jake?" Carla detached herself. "You know, privately?"

Peyton got her keys from the pocket of her jacket. "Do you want me to pick up Jenny from Stacey's?"

"Oh Peyton, would you? That'd be great. I'm sure she'd love it if I picked her up late, but I guess this must be pretty awkward for you. Thanks, see you in a bit." He gave Peyton a quick kiss and she went to start up her car. As she drove away, Jake let himself into the house.

"I could tell, you know." Carla took her sunglasses off.

"Could tell what?"

"That you and Peyton were going to get together. Just the way you looked at each other. You suit each other."

"Thanks, I think." Jake paused. "Anyway Carla, what do you need to talk to me about so bad that you don't even call?"

"OK. So I went to my doctor a couple of weeks ago, just for a regular check-up, you know, and I got the results back yesterday."

"And…? Oh god, please don't tell me you're pregnant, because I could really do without that right now."

"No no, don't worry. Or maybe do. The doctor said I'd contracted chlamydia."

Jake stayed silent.

"They think it was quite recently, so they should be able to treat it, but the doctor, Dr Murray, said I should tell any sexual partners I've had in the last two years, and they should get checked out. And that's my new boyfriend and, well, you." Carla explained.

"So I should get checked out." Jake repeated.

"They do free tests at the clinic down by the river. Jake, I'm only telling you this because it could affect your health."

"I know, Carla. And I appreciate that. It's just that-"

"I'm sorry about breaking up with you, Jake. It was just that I wasn't sure if I was ready to settle down, and then I realised 'What if I am ready but this isn't the right guy?'. And so I panicked and-"

"Carla, don't. I already know."

"You do?" Carla nodded.

"To tell the honest truth, I wasn't sure myself. I just wanted to make a good home for Jenny, and I thought I was in love."

"You're a great dad to Jenny, Jake. She's lucky to have you. And Peyton too. You and me, we'll always be friends, right?" Jake smiled at Carla and nodded. "Are you… are you in love with her, with Peyton?"

"Yes." Jake replied without even having to think. "Yes, I am."

**Ok, so see you in a month or two and Happy Christmas!**


	12. What Can I Do?

**I'm back! Hope you didn't miss me too much! It's been a while, so I have a lot in bold today… **

**1) I'm updating this now because I finally finished my other story (yay!), so I should also have a new chapter of Brooke's story up soon.**

**2) Hope everyone had a great Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever everyone celebrates; even if you didn't celebrate anything, hope you had a great time over the holidays.**

**3) I cannot believe I only just found out Chad and Sophia split up! Absolutely none of my friends told me until the holidays when my cousin told me. What is going on there? Does anyone know why they split?**

**4) I finally got hold of the Gavin DeGraw album and I love it, love it, love it! I love the song Just Friends so much and I just read LilAngel413's songfic Just Friends while I was listening to it. (Thank you LilAngel for making me so determined to find the album!)**

**5) I am so confused! I saw the new film version of Narnia at Christmas and I seriously cannot decide who is actually the best looking guy in existence – CMM or William Moseley! Your help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!**

**6) The second series finished! OMG, I cannot believe all the things that happened in the finale and I cannot wait for the third series to be aired over here. And is it just me being ignorant, or did none of the characters have a birthday in the whole of junior year?**

**7) And thanks to jeytonlover for describing this as 'good Jeyton'. I aim to please!**

**Ok, finally, here's the actual chapter…**

The doorbell rang and Brooke put Jamie in his cot to go and answer it. Peyton was standing on the doorstep, her eyes slightly red, carrying a bag from the chemist on the same road as Karen's Café.

"Hi Peyton! Come in, I just made some coffee."

"Oh, is Ross in?" Peyton hesitated.

'"No, he's out buying supplies for his best friend's bachelor party. Why am I dreading that again?" Brooke joked, but Peyton barely smiled. "Come on, what's up?" Brooke closed the door and sat down on the sofa.

"So I was flicking back through my diary, to work out how long Jake and I had been going out-"

"Two months. All you had to do was ask me, hun."

"Anyway, and I realised that I haven't had a period in nearly three months. And a couple of weeks ago I started getting sick in the mornings, and my breasts have been growing just a little bit, which normally I wouldn't consider a bad thing, but…" Peyton reached into the bag, pulled out a small rectangular box and held it up.

"Oh Peyton…" Brooke reached over and hugged her best friend.

"So I was wondering, since you've done it, like twice before, if I could just find out here?"

"Sure. Just go to the bathroom on the left of the hall and I'll get you something to drink."

A couple of minutes later, Peyton came back into the living room and Brooke handed her a mug of coffee.

"The longest two minutes of my like, right?" Peyton sighed. "What did Lucas say when you told him you were pregnant?"

"Well, actually I told him I thought I was pregnant, and he took me to the drugstore to buy a test. He was very mature and calm about it all, which must have been pretty hard for him." Peyton tilted her head, inquiring. "Well, considering I was being kinda harsh on him, because 'first he cheated on me and then got me knocked up', as I think I so charmingly put it." Brooke took a sip of her coffee. "How do you think Jake will take it, if it's positive?"

"I honestly don't know. I guess he did it all before too, with Nicki and Jenny. But I don't even know what I'd do. Keep it, give it up, have an abortion, those are my three options. I mean, I'm falling for Jake, I seriously am. But I only moved from Atlanta a little over three months ago; and Lucas has left, you and Haley had babies, the whole thing with Jake and Carla and chlamydia and now this? It's all too much to cope with."

"Well, if we're sharing secrets, I should probably tell you mine." Brooke shifted in her seat. "I was at the paediatrician's a couple of days ago, for Jamie's two month check-up. They say it's too early to know for definite, and they have to check again when he's a few months older, but… but he might be deaf. Permanently. They say he might not ever hear."

"Oh… have you told Ross yet?" Peyton placed her hand on Brooke's knee.

"No, and don't say anything to him. I don't want him to get worried about a false alarm." Brooke wiped her face and smiled at Peyton. "I'm sorry Peyt, I'm tearing up and it's you who has the problem. Do you think it'll be ready yet?"

Peyton got up from the sofa and headed towards the bathroom. When she got back, holding the test, her face was tear-streaked and her lip was quivering.

"It's positive."

**A/n: Just for the record, the test is not a fluke. Peyton is pregnant, but will she keep it? I haven't even decided myself yet, and if she does, I seriously cannot decide whether she should have a boy or a girl, and I have no names either. Tell you what, we'll have a vote on all matters regarding Peyton's pregnancy. Answers on a postcard please (I suppose in a review would do…) -TF**


	13. Wow

**Ok, so even though only jeytonlover voted on the whole Peyton thing (thank you, by the way!), in this chapter we find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl (I asked 8 of my friends and it was split 5/4, so it was really close). I know that at this stage of the pregnancy you wouldn't be able to tell the sex of a baby from the ultrasound scan, but I'm using a bit of artistic license. There's also acontinuity error here because I said earlier that Tree Hill doctors don't tell you the sex of the baby, but again, use of artistic license. Maybe they introduced it in the last few months – use your imaginations!**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

"Miss Peyton Sawyer?" The nurse poked her head around the waiting room door. "We're ready for you now."

Peyton got her bag and followed her into the ultrasound room. It was now a month since she had told Brooke about it, but she had only just come round to the fact that she was pregnant.

Hi Peyton,M name isDr Greenberg, but call me Bryony. If you could just lie down on the bed here and I'll put some of this jelly on your stomach."

Peyton got up onto the bed and pulled up her ancient Ramones top. When she'd put it on that morning, she was trying to remember a time when things weren't this difficult, but then she realised they always were.

"So, how far along are you?" Bryony asked.

"Three months, I think."

"Yes, that's what I was guessing from the stage the baby is at. Can you see it there?" Bryony touched the screen and pointed out where everything would eventually be. Peyton's heart skipped when she realised that this tiny being inside her was going to turn into a baby. A real, live, crying, peeing baby.

"What about the father?"

"What about him?"

"Have you told him about the baby? What is he; your husband, your-"

"My boyfriend." Peyton interrupted. "And I haven't told him yet. The right moment just hasn't come, I guess."

"Well, the right moment better come soon, because you're going to start showing soon, in the next two weeks or so." Bryony smiled. "There are times when having a gorgeously flat tummy that any woman would die for-" She pointed at her own, slightly flabby stomach "-does you no favours. Ok, so it seems everything is in perfect order. Would you like to know the sex of the baby?"

Peyton swallowed and nodded.

"Yes, please."

"Well, Miss Sawyer, you are going to have a beautiful baby boy."

oooOOOooo

"Hi Jake, I'm so sorry I'm late." Peyton almost ran up to the restaurant entrance where Jake was waiting for her. "I had some stuff to sort out."

"No worries. I got my test results back about a half hour ago and I'm absolutely fine, so I'm in a pretty good mood, but I wouldn't say the same for Carla's new man." He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Shall we go in?"

Once they were sat down and ordered, Jake cleared his throat and started to talk.

"Ok, so tell me if I'm completely out of order, because we haven't been dating that long, but I just have a few things to say." He swallowed and paused. "I love you, Peyton, and I want to be with you forever. I want to have a family with you, and we've got a headstart because of Jenny…"

He trailed off, then produced a diamond solitaire and looked up at Peyton. "Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, will you marry me?"

Peyton smiled.

"Oh my word, I don't know what to say… I love you too, but-"

"Oh God, there's a 'but'."

Peyton's head screamed at her _"This is the right moment! Tell him, tell him!" _

"There's something you need to know. The reason I was late was because I was at the hospital having… having and ultrasound scan." Peyton looked nervously at Jake.

"You're pregnant?"

Peyton nodded.

"That is great!" Jake laughed. "It is mine, right?" Peyton nodded again, this time smiling. "There is nothing I would want more. God, is this the best day ever or what!"

"Well, now we've got over that…" Peyton sighed and laughed. "Yes, I will marry you. I'll marry you!" Peyton half-shouted tears of happiness filling her eyes.


	14. Bend and Break

**Hey there! Sorry it has been a while updating; I have been ill.**

**There are some issues and opinions raised in this chapter about hearing difficulties. If anyone is offended by these opinions, I'm very sorry and they're not mine, they're the character's. I have a good friend who's partially deaf and she's one of the nicest people I know.**

**Enjoy!**

"Ok, so I've just dropped Jamie off at Peyton and Jake's; I should be at the restaurant in about ten minutes." Brooke told Ross on her mobile. "Ok, see you there."

After Peyton had told her about Jake's proposal and that he knew she was pregnant, Brooke had decided to tell Ross about Jamie. She had been contemplating their relationship for a while now – Ross was hardly ever at home, and when he was, he was as useful as a hole in the head, so if he twigged out over the whole hearing thing, that would pretty much be the last straw.

Brooke pulled up and parked outside the riverside restaurant Ross was treating her to. He wasn't there yet, but their table was booked for seven and it was already five past, so she decided to go inside and make sure they didn't give it to anyone else.

After sitting down, Brooke scanned the menu and waited for Ross to get there. Ten minutes went by and he still hadn't arrived, so she ordered drinks for them both. Five minutes after that he finally strolled through the door, acting as if he were perfectly on time.

"Ross, I have been sitting here on my own for fifteen minutes!" Brooke hissed. "Where were you?"

"Relax, I got held up at work." He said as he hung his coat up.

"Can we please just sit down and eat?"

"It's you who's stopping us, honey."

Brooke stayed silent for a moment and then spoke.

"We need to talk about Jamie."

"What about him? He's a healthy little guy. Going to be a looker, just like his father." Ross sat back in his chair.

"Ross, seriously. The paediatrician said that he… he's probably deaf."

There was a pause.

Ross laughed.

"You're great, Brooke."

"What?"

"You know just how to make me laugh. I mean, if Jamie was deaf, God, I couldn't be bothered."

"I wasn't joking, Ross."

Ross leaned forward.

"You mean I have a retard for a son?"

"Ross!" Brooke raised her voice. "He is our child, not a-"

"A retard? Oh yes he is! How do I even know he's mine, you little tart? Huh?"

"You know what, I can't handle this right now." Brooke, on the edge of tears, got up from the table and grabbed her coat. She walked as fast as she could to the door, without looking back.

Once she was outside, she kept on walking, down the road, around the corner, until she didn't know where she was going anymore.

oooOOOooo

Somehow Brooke ended up at the Blue Post. She pushed open the door and slipped inside.

Since senior year, this place had really gone downhill. Now it was the place to go only if you wanted a drunken brawl or some dodgy pills.

Before she knew it Brooke had bought herself a drink and was heading towards the dancefloor. She danced for what seemed like hours; not thinking about anyone, not caring about anything. She was lost in the music when a small, rat faced man tapped her on the shoulder.

"Want something?" He shouted over the bass.

"What?" Brooke shouted back.

"You want something?" He repeated, opening his coat so she could see the bottles of pills hidden inside.

She started to reply 'no', but then thought again. Her life was pretty crap at the moment; she had split up with her boyfriend, her son was deaf, and the man she was pretty sure she was in love with was married to someone else. What harm could a few pills do?

Brooke nodded.

"How much?"

"Well, these are good, but for a beautiful lady like you, I'll call 7,50."

Brooke stuffed $10 in his hand.

"Keep the change."

**Pause while that sinks in.**

**Going to a slightly happier part of the story, here are the ten names I am considering for the Jeyton child (remember it's a boy), and I liked the whole votey thing on the gender. Please either vote for one of these (in no particular order, just alphabetical) or if you hate them all, choose another one (by the way, the middle name will most likely be Jacob):**

**_Alex/ander_**

_**Ashton**_

_**Conway**_

_**Noah**_

**_Ollie (Oliver)_**

_**Sam**_

_**Tarrin**_

_**Tyler **_

**_William (Will)_**

**and _Zach_**

**Thanks!**


	15. Making plans, breaking promises

**Um, not much to say today except vote to save One Tree Hill! You probably know all about it by now, but there's a link on my profile page if you want to vote or find out more. Come on, you know you do…**

**Oh, and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Enjoy this one! -TF**

"Ok, so Haley said she'd be here by two, and that's…" Brooke checked her watch "five minutes. So we have five minutes to suggest things for the wedding without her actually starting to organise them."

Peyton smiled. "No, actually I wanted to talk to you about… you know, Ross and Jamie and all that."

"Yeah, what about them and 'all that?'"

"How're you holding up?" Peyton placed her hand on Brooke's knee.

"Alright, I guess. Looking after Jamie on my own, I realise it's exactly the same as when Ross was around, because he never did anything anyway. To be honest, really, the only thing I miss is the sex." Brooke sighed.

"Whoa, too much information, B. Davis!"

"Sorry." Brooke smiled. "I'm assuming Ross isn't going to ask for custody, which isn't so bad, but I do want Jamie to have some sort of father figure in his life."

"Well, you've got-"

The doorbell rang and cut Peyton off mid-sentence.

"Damn, why does Haley always have to be on time?" Brooke moaned.

"Oh, be quiet. I want to plan my wedding!"

Peyton let Haley through the door and sat her down on the sofa. She smiled excitedly at Brooke.

"Ok, let's start." Haley pulled out a notebook and pen from her bag. "So we have the five most important questions when we're planning a wedding – who, what, when, where and why – I'll tell you about them as we go along. Ok, first one – when are you planning on having the big day?" Haley looked at Peyton, who was looking back, bewildered.

"Have you done this before?"

"Yeah, I planned like three of my sisters' weddings. I'm hoping you'll be easier then Taylor, at least. So, answer the question."

Peyton got out her diary. "Well, the baby is due on… March 14th, so we were thinking maybe like a month or two after that."

"Right. Now, where and what. What events are you going to have – receptions, things like that – and where are you going to have them? Oh, and where are you holding the actual ceremony?"

"Oh, Jake's family is quite religious, so he wants to have it in the church on Keaton Avenue, and I don't mind."

"I'll check when it's free." Haley scribbled something down and Brooke peered over her shoulder to see what it was, but Haley smiled and hid the page.

"Then we thought maybe we'll have an afternoon reception and a party in the evening-" Peyton continued.

"I thought of the perfect places for those. Leave it to me." Brooke interrupted.

"And we'll organise the bridal shower, and get Luke and Nathan to do the bachelor party." Haley checked her notes. "Oh, are you going to have an engagement party?"

"Yeah, Jenny's doing it for us. It'll probably be sometime next month. She is being so sweet and welcoming about the baby and the wedding."

"Speaking of Jenny, who are going to be bridesmaids, flower girls, groomsmen?" Brooke asked.

"Um, obviously you two and Jenny are going to be bridesmaids, then Jake wants Luke and Nathan to be groomsmen and his brother David to be best man. Then maybe Laura as one flower girl-" Peyton looked at Haley hopefully, who smiled and nodded "-and we'll ask Lucas and Samantha if Katie wants to do it with her."

"Ok, the moment of truth." Brooke sat up. "Who is going to be your maid of honour?"

"Well, I love you both dearly, but-" Peyton started, but was cut off by Jamie starting to cry in the next room. Brooke got up to go to him, but Peyton stopped her. "Let me do it." She said, holding her stomach. "I'll need the practice."

"Oh, thanks. It sounds as if he needs his diaper changing, so check that first." Brooke sat back down and started talking to Haley.

Peyton went into Jamie's bedroom and lifted him out of his cot. Smelling that yes, it was his diaper, she lay him down on the changing table and started to undress him, she tried to remember the time when her boss in Atlanta, Heidi, had brought her baby daughter Ruby in and had changed her in the middle of the office. Luckily, Peyton found she remembered most of the process. She was almost finished when she saw that Jamie had a little rash, just at the top of his legs. Having not seen any cream in the main part of the changing bag, she tried the front pocket.

"There you are." Peyton murmured and pulled out the pot of baby cream sitting in the pocket. Underneath she noticed a small bottle and, being a natural nosy girl, pulled it out.

"Peyton came shopping with me the other day," Brooke, in the other room, was waffling on to Haley, who was trying to look vaguely interested. "and she bought like all the bridal magazines there. I swear, she is so in love with Jake, it's adorable… she would do anything for him. And it's so cute that they're having a baby. We always said that she's be the first to have kids, but there you go." She noticed Peyton standing at the door. "Oh, hey P. Sawyer, what's up?"

Peyton held up the bottle of pills. "What the hell are you thinking!"

"Peyton, it's not what it looks like, I swear." Brooke said, running over and trying to get the bottle back.

"It looks like drugs, Brooke. And in your son's changing bag? What kind of mother are you?"

"What?" Brooke stood back. "Don't you dare start telling me I'm a bad mother. It was a moment of weakness; I haven't taken any since the night I bought them. Let me tell you something -I am doing my absolute best for Jamie, and if that's not good enough for you, then I think you should get out." Brooke pointed towards the door, close to tears.

Peyton stayed standing where she was.

"I said get out."

Peyton grabbed her bag and slammed the door behind her, leaving a stunned Haley on the sofa and a crying Brooke by Jamie's door.

**P.S. I don't think Jake has a brother, but I spent like half an hour trying to decide who best man was going to be, so I invented one, and he's called David. So there you go. Hopefully I'll update in the next two weeks, but no promises.**


	16. Just Friends

**Ok, I am very very sorry this chapter is past the two week mark; I had two weeks of late nights and learning lines for a play I was in. Double sorry because it is even shorter than normal. Kind of my fault because I only had a couple of small things to put in this chapter.**

**Anyway, good things come in small packages, right? Hope this is the case.**

Lucas pulled the door closed behind him after picking Katie and Callie up from school and nursery. He had been back from Charlotte two days and was embracing the fact that he was actually in Tree Hill to pick the girls up, and giving Samantha some time off in doing so. He switched on the TV to occupy the kids and quietly climbed the stairs to check on his wife. She had not been feeling too good when he left that morning, and so he wanted to make sure that she was feeling ok now.

As he reached the bedroom, he heard Samantha talking in a hushed voice – probably into a phone; he could only hear her speaking. He pushed the door open a little and Samantha motioned for him to 'wait a second'.

"No, I haven't told him yet. I've got to go, I'll call you later. Bye." She pressed the 'off' button on her phone.

"Who was that?" Lucas made his way further into the room.

"Oh, just a friend."

"Who? And what haven't you told me? Because-"

Samantha cut Lucas off, changing the subject.

"Stop being so nosy, honey! Wait here, I've got something to show you." She pushed him down on to the bed and disappeared into the en-suite. A moment late she came back out, smiling and holding a positive pregnancy test.

"Oh my word, that is… wow!" Lucas jumped up and hugged her, catching sight of his watch in them process. "Oh, I'm late…"

"Late for what?"

"Brooke and I are going to see that new movie, you know, the one with – anyway, we haven't done anything just as friends for ages. Oh, I love you so much, you know that?"

Samantha nodded.

"I'll see you later." Lucas kissed her quickly and left the room. She watched the door for a minute or two, wondering what the hell she was going to do now.

oooOOOooo

Brooke was pacing. She had been doing a lot of that since the fight with Peyton. They each knew that they were both too stubborn to be the first one to call. So, to vent her anger and frustration, Brooke paced.

There was a knock on the flat door. Lucas. Well, Brooke thought, we'll miss the trailers but at least we'll catch the film. She opened the door and let him in.

"Hi, Brooke. Sorry I'm late."

"Hey. Don't worry, I'm sure you had a good reason." Brooke reached up to hug Lucas. When she thought about it later, she blamed it on the feel of his strong arms around her, his familiar scent so close. When he pulled away from the embrace, she quickly planted a soft, short kiss on his lips. He looked at her for a few moments, his smouldering blue eyes burning into hers. Then he leaned in and kissed her back, with all the passion and feeling they used to have. It was amazing. There were fireworks going off in Brooke's head, so many thoughts rushing around. She knew it was wrong, but it just felt so good…

Then Lucas pulled away.

"I'm sorry… I, we, I mean, we can't do this." He stammered, looking around, desperately searching for a distraction.

"Yeah." Brooke replied, looking down.

"You're an amazing woman, Brooke, and a great friend, but I have Samantha, and you have Ross…"

"No, Ross and I broke up."

"I'm sorry. And Brooke, Samantha's pregnant! Isn't that great? That was just a stupid impulse thing. I must have just got caught in the moment. _We _must have."

Brooke nodded and picked up Jamie's car seat.

"Shall we go? We're going to be late."

Lucas smiled apologetically and turned to walk to the car, not noticing the tear in the corner of Brooke's eye.

**Ok, next Thursday I am going on holiday for two weeks, which means the next chapter probably won't be up for a month or so. Very sorry, but hope everyone has a good Easter! -TF**


	17. I've got a party to crash

**Hey y'all! Here I am in Kennesaw, GA, enjoying my first week of sun! I know I said I wouldn't update while on holiday but it's been written so I might as well post it. It's probably not as good as the others, or at least different, and I had a change of mind about some details, because I think the great weather has gone to my head, but here it is…**

Peyton counted the people in the room. Nineteen. But the one person she most wanted – needed - to be there wasn't.

She headed towards the door where Lucas and Samantha had just arrived with the girls. Her engagement party was about half an hour in and Brooke was still not there. Peyton had left a message on her machine, but so far she had heard nothing back.

"Um, everyone, I have an announcement to make." Jake tapped on his glass. "As you know, Peyton and I got engaged two months ago, and she is twenty six weeks pregnant with my child. At least, I hope it's mine." The guests cheered and some laughed. "Now, until yesterday, we thought it was a boy." He paused, in which time Jenny spoke.

"I'm getting a baby sister? But how-"

"Wait honey, I haven't finished." Jake smiled. "We found out at my gorgeous fiancée's scan yesterday that she is, in fact, carrying twins, a boy and a girl." The party started to clap, and Peyton smiled. When Bryony had started to squint at the screen and even called in another midwife to confirm what she thought she was seeing, Peyton expected the worst. It was a huge relief when it was announced that they had missed the second baby at the first scan because she was a lot smaller than the boy and was sitting behind him. It meant double the work for Peyton and Jake, but also double the love.

"So, we are finding it very difficult to decide on names that we both like. What my brother did when he had kids is, at the baby shower the guests wrote names they liked up on a whiteboard. Well, I'msorry if you have copyright on this or something Dave, but there are pens by the board in the kitchen, and everyone is welcome to join in. So, let's get on with the party!" Jake turned to Peyton and tilted his head. "How are you, honey?"

"Peyton tried a weak smile. "I'm okay." Jake looked around.

"Brooke's still not here? Tell you what, after the party, we'll drive over to hers and try and sort things out, yeah?"

"Alright." Peyton kissed him on the cheek. "I love you."

"Not as much as I love you." Jake kissed her back and turned to try and find his parents. Lucas joined Peyton.

"Hey, congratulations on the whole twin thing. Did Samantha tell you that she's pregnant too?"

Peyton shook her head. To be brutally honest, she found the woman pretentious, snooty and generally annoying, but she wasn't about to tell Lucas that. "Well, congratulations to you too."

"Thanks. Yeah, we found out the day of the whole Brooke thing."

"What Brooke thing?" Peyton sat down on one of the chairs.

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Lucas sat down too.

"Oh, we… we aren't really talking much at the moment."

"Well, I'm not sure whether it's me who should be telling you, but we were about to go to a movie, and, well, she kissed me, and, um,I sort of kissed her back."

"Lucas! I mean, in high school it was bad enough, but now that you're married, with kids?" Peyton exclaimed.

"I know, I know, it was stupid. But we stopped before it got to anything. Promise. Which is why I haven't told Samantha, so don't go letting it slip."

"Ok. But generally people learn from their mistakes." Peyton smiled and left the table to look for Jake.

oooOOOooo

As the last guests filtered out, Jake put his arm around Peyton's waist and led her out of the living room and into the kitchen. He picked up the whiteboard, which was covered in names, both boys' and girls'.

"Well, looks like we've got a few choices." He looked at Peyton, but her mind was obviously on something else. "Peyton?" She jerked out of her daze and looked up at Jake. "Do you wanna go and check if Brooke's home?" he asked.

"Yes. Please." Peyton bit her lip.

"OK, let's go." Jake found his keys on the table and headed towards the front door. He turned the handle and opened it, but as he did, he saw a face he'd hoped he would never see again, and two sentences he'd hoped he'd never hear.

"Hi Jake. How's my daughter?"

**Ok, so the boys names on the board were the ones we got a few chapters back (Alex, Ashton, Conway, Noah, Ollie, Sam, Tarrin, Tyler, Will and Zach). The girls ones are:**

_**Alyssa**_

_**Anna (after Peyton's mom)**_

_**Casey**_

_**Darcie**_

_**Ella**_

_**Jemma**_

_**Kerryn**_

_**Lucy **_

_**Madeleine**_

_**and Molly**_

**Pick one or two of each and put them in a review. We currently have 42 – let's get it up to 50. Come on, we can do it!**


	18. Tiny Little Fractures

**Hey, my lovely readers! I would have finally reached my goal and got a chapter up on time, but parctically the whole site was down last week. But it's up now, andI amin the mood for gossip!**

**I was reading a magazine the other day and I saw a picture of CMM with a girl – apparently they're engaged! She's an extra on One Tree Hill so it's pretty convenient, but she's only eighteen and remember how Chad's last OTH marriage turned out? I reckon he really shouldn't be rushing into something like this. But I guess that could be just me.**

**So, (sniffle sniffle) I only got two reviews for the last chapter – I am very sad! There's only six left to go until we get 50, so let's all pull together and make me a very happy person – maybe if we get the big 5-O, I'll update next week instead of in a fortnight!**

**Thanks to LilAngel and jeytonlover for reviewing the last chapter, and also thanks to iftheyonlyknewthetruth for kind of giving me an idea for this one.**

**And remember to pick out names- I currently have one vote each for Noah, Sam, Madeleine and Ella, so if you want to change that, get reviewing and help to name the Jeyton babies!**

**Oh, and enjoy the chapter! So... **

"Hi Jake. How's my daughter?"

Jake stayed exactly where he was, not knowing what to do. It was all happening again.

Nicki looked at Peyton.

"Oh hi… what was it? Penny? Dayton?" Nicki smiled falsely at Peyton, very obviously knowing exactly what her name was.

As always, Peyton had a killer comeback.

"Oh, psycho stalker bitch! I thought we got rid of you." she smiled back and stuck out her hand for Nicki to shake, causing her to notice her engagement ring.

"Ah, so he knocked you up and then proposed – he tried that with me too." Nicki pushed her way through to the hall and turned to face Peyton and Jake. "Aren't you gonna let me in?"

"Nicki, if you don't get out, I'm calling the police." Jake reached for the phone.

"And tell them what – a mother is trying to see her child?"

As if on cue, Jenny walked out from the kitchen to the hall, holding the whiteboard.

"So guys, I really like the names Anna and Alex, if you're having any trouble deciding." she smiled and looked up, noticing Nicki in the process. "Who's this?"

"Oh, I'm just a psycho stalker bitch." Nicki smirked at Peyton, then put her hand on her chest and moved closer to Jenny. "Look at you, Jenny! You've gotten so beautiful."

"Um, Dad, why is the psycho stalker bitch trying to hug me?" Jenny took a step back.

"Oh, honey," Nicki laughed. "I'm your mommy."

"What? No." Jenny moved round Nicki to stand in front of Jake. "Dad, you told me my mom died. In an accident."

"Jenny-" Jake started.

"Oh, you killed me off? Wishful thinking, huh?" Nicki raised her eyebrows at Jake and turned to her daughter. "Honey, a long time ago, when you were very little, I made a few mistakes, and your daddy took you away from me. And all this time I've been trying to find you, because no matter what anyone says, I love you very much. And you're never going to have another Mom, even if, say, someone married your dad." she said, looking at Peyton.

"Dad, is that true?" Jenny looked up at Jake.

"Honey, it's really, really complicated. Peyton, could you just let us three talk for a little while?" Jake asked.

"Are you sure? I mean, if you want me to stay-"

"No, I'll be fine. You go and see Brooke." Jake handed Peyton the car keys and kissed her, before smiling and closing the door.

It all seemed a bit strange to Peyton. If you thought about what Nicki had said, she abandoned Jenny as a baby, and she couldn't possibly have been looking for fourteen years withoutreturning toTree Hill at least once. Why was she coming back now?

Peyton shook the thought away as she climbed into the car. She started up the engine and one of the twins kicked hard, causing her to let out a small scream. They had not been doing it long and it still felt very weird. Everything about her new life still felt a bit weird, really. The fact that it had all so happened so fast, that it was still all happening so fast.

It took around five minutes to drive from Jake and Peyton's house to Brooke's apartment. They used to visit each other 24/7 back before the argument, to talk about everything, from Jamie and Ross to what Jake and Peyton did last night. Peyton had missed having someone like that.

She rang the intercom for Brooke's apartment. There was no answer, so she rang it a couple more times until a man came out of the ground floor rooms and held the door for Peyton on his way out. She went in and climbed the flight of stairs, knocked on Brooke's door. One, two, three times. Peyton thought she could hear Jamie crying inside and Brooke still wasn't answering, so she found the spare key under the welcome mat and let herself in.

Jamie was sitting in his high chair, screaming and kicking. Peyton scooped him up and tried to calm him down, calling out Brooke's name at the same time.

Brooke didn't answer.

And that's when Peyton saw the note. She couldn't bring herself to read it.

She put Jamie back in his chair and ran towards the bedroom door. It was open. And inside, Brooke was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. There was a bottle of vodka and a handful of pills on the bedside table, and vomit on the floor.

Peyton was about to run to Brooke when she fell against the door. Her head was spinning, her vision was starting to blur…

And then everything went black.


	19. Grazed Knees

**Hey everyone! Here is the update I promised – I'm sorry I left you hanging, but I couldn't resist it!**

**Also, we had 4 new reviewers for the last chapter (meaning a grand total of 50!)– hello and thanks to you all, and of course thanks to the regulars.**

**So we've skipped on a bit this chapter and it is now December, meaning Christmas for everyone, but will it be happy or sad? Read on to find out…**

"Brooke was a strong, independent, beautiful woman, and she will be sorely missed." Lucas finished his speech, wiped a tear from his eye and steeped down from the altar.

Peyton and Jake passed by the open casket, both of them crying openly. Inside, Brooke lay, looking more beautiful than ever with white flowers threaded through her hair and placed in her hands…

Peyton woke with a start, the cold morning sunlight streaming in through the open window. She hated that dream, that nightmare. Every night she'd had it since that day, it had just brought it all back…

"_Hey honey." Jake smiled and gripped Peyton's hand as she came round. Everything was so bright, so clean. She was definitely not at home._

"_Jake…" She struggled to sit up but he held her down._

"_Just relax. We're at the hospital," he explained. "The man in the apartment opposite Brooke's found both of you and dialled 911. They've taken some bloods for you, just in case it was more serious than fainting, and they're keeping tabs on the twins." He bit his lip._

"_And Brooke? Oh God, Jake, is she ok?"_

_Jake swallowed and gripped Peyton's hand tighter._

"_She's not good, Peyt. They're pumping her stomach now."_

_Peyton started to softly cry._

"_I – I'm so scared, Jake."_

Peyton shivered. Jake entered the room and sat down next to her on the bed.

"Merry Christmas baby." he gave her a quick kiss. "You look kinda shook up, are you ok?"

"Yeah," Peyton shook her head. "I just had that nightmare again. Just finding her and not knowing what was going to happen and then… It's all still there."

"Oh, Peyton." Jake pulled her close and held her tight. "Hey, Jenny is getting all psyched up downstairs, waiting to open her presents. Shall we go join her and put her out of her misery?"

Peyton wiped her eyes and nodded. "I'll be down in a minute."

OooOOOooo

"Wow Peyton, oil paints? And these are a really good make! Oh, thank you so much!" Jenny leant over and hugged Peyton. "I am going to use these so much. Oh, andyeah, last but most definitely not least, your present from me." She handed Peyton a small box, which she opened.

"Oh, Jen, this must have cost a fortune! It's gorgeous, hun." Peyton smiled, holding up a silver heart pendant up to the light.

"Read the inscription." Jenny turned the pendant over.

"Jeyton forever, December 2018." Peyton read aloud. "Jeyton. Fits, doesn't it?" She ruffled Jenny's hair and checked her watch. "Oh. Sorry, I said I'd go see Brooke at 12. Can you live without me for an hour?"

"If we try really hard." Jake laughed. "Oh, did you take your iron tablets today?"

"Jake, I'm anaemic, and only while I'm pregnant at that. I'm not dying."

"But we don't want you collapsing again, especially not at six months gone."

"Sure." Peyton kissed Jake on the cheek and waved goodbye to Jenny. "See you in a bit."

When she reached Brooke's apartment, she let herself in with the key she'd been given and called out her name. Brooke emerged from the kitchen with a bag of chips, which she emptied onto a plate and offered to Peyton. She looks good, Peyton thought. Since it happened she had not made much effort in the appearance department, but today she had straightened and styled her hair, an dapplied full make up.

"No thanks. Merry Christmas, by the way. Jake and I were wondering if you wanted to come over later for dinner?" Brooke didn't respond. "So, how are you today?"

"I'm ok, I guess. They're still making me have those stupid happy pills." Brooke sat down on the sofa, motioning for Peyton to join her. "Thing is, I don't want to have to take them, but I'm scared of what will happen if I stop." She ran her hand through her hair. "And I miss Jamie. They say I can see him tomorrow, but it's his first Christmas, you know? And they're not going to let me have him back until they know I am "of sound health"." Brooke quoted, making air commas with her fingers.

There was silence for a while in whicheach of them took a few chips. Then Brooke spoke.

"You want to know why I did it, don't you? Why I tried to…" she trailed off.

Peyton was a little taken aback. In almost a month Brooke had not once talked about that day.

"Kind of, kind of not." She replied.

"Honestly, I did it because I was jealous," she sighed."I was jealous of you, and of Haley, and of everyone in this stupid town. So you got back what, eight months ago? And you're already engaged, pregnant, and you're happy. And Haley and Nathan's marriage is perfect, as always. They're even thinking of renewing their vows at some point. And everything was going wrong for me, with Lucas, and with Jamie and Ross." Brooke sighed. "I'm sorry, I know it wasn't your fault, and… I know it was a really stupid thing to do, and I'm so, so sorry that it was you who had to find me, but so glad that you did. I guess I just felt like it was the only way out."

Neither of them did anything for a few moments, until Peyton leant over and gave Brooke a warm hug.

"You know you can always come to me of you ever need anything, yeah? I will always be there for you."

"Mmm, I know." Brooke broke away and smiled a weak smile. "Thank you."

**So, what did you think? A relief? A let down? Also, I'm thinking of checking in on everyone else's Christmases next chapter, but I have serious writer's block for anything else after that, so I would really appreciate any ideas you guys have, if you could help.**

**See you next chapter!**


	20. The One Day We Can Forget About Tomorrow

**Hey everyone! So, chapter 20! I am so sorry it took me so long to get this up; I had it written but then I had exams and it all got a little tiring. Thanks to **brucas622** though, who gave me the extra little push I needed. And I promise, the whole Lucas/Brooke/Samantha situation will be resolved, but all in good time.**

**So it's still Christmas day, and what are the other families doing? I've realised we haven't checked up on the kids in a while so here's a little age reminder:**

Brucas:** Tristan Scott-Davis is 13.** Naley:** Carter Scott is 12, Ryan Scott is 8, Laura 'Lollie' Scott is 4, and Keira Scott is about seven months old. Jamie Davis is also seven months old and Katie and Callie Scott are 5 and 2. Jenny Jagielski is now 15.**

**Also, because I forgot about him, let's say that Tristan was at Lucas's at the time of Brooke's 'incident'. He is still staying with him, Samantha and the girls.**

**And I hope you don't mind, **LilAngel413**, but I used your Nicki from 'Project Baby: 9 months' in this chapter. I hope it's ok!**

**So, Peyton is at Brooke's, but what is everyone else up to? We'll find out, shall we?**

"Mommy, mommy, stop sleeping! It's Christmas!" Haley opened her eyes wearily to find Laura clambering on the bed and Ryan trying to wake Nathan with a plastic mallet. She slowly sat up, trying to ignore the splitting headache she had, a result of Christmas Eve's 'THJH Teachers' Bash', which she had attended with Nathan.

"Happy Christmas sweetie." Haley sighed. "Now, are you going to be a good girl and get up?"

"But I wants to open my presents!"

"You can open your presents as soon as you get dressed, Lollie. There's a box just over there in the corner. You can wear that if you like." Haley smiled and Laura gave her a puzzled look, but went over to investigate the box anyway. She lifted up the lid, gasped and held up a pink leotard and tutu.

"Oh Mommy, it's so prettyful!" she exclaimed. "Like a ba- balli…"

"A ballerina?" Haley offered, to which Laura nodded enthusiastically. "Come here, let me help you put it on.

As Haley pulled back the covers and tried to hold down the nausea, Ryan piped up with, "Don't I get a present?"

Nathan groaned melodramatically and sat up in bed. "Go wake your brother, and have a little look in the toy cupboard."

Ryan ran out of the room shouting for Carter to wake up, and Haley leaned across to kiss Nathan. "Merry Christmas, Haley-bop." He picked up his dressing gown and wrapped it round him. "How's the-" he glanced at Laura. "H, A, N, G, O-"

"I'm not silly you know." Laura jumped up on to the bed. "You and mommy both have a poorly head and an icky tummy."

"You do?" Haley tilted her head and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"Yeah, Carter told me. It's because you had too much of that thing... I can't renember, but it sounds like six."

Just as Haley and Nathan were trying to work out how to tell Laura that their eldest son evidently didn't know much about hangovers, they heard the child in question shout from the other room.

"Ryan, look! Remote control cars!"

Nathan laughed and called back.

"They're all powered up, so just flick the switch on the bottom and have a play. Downstairs, mind."

"Thanks Dad!" the boys chorused, at which Haley cleared her throat loudly. "Thanks too, Mom!" they ran past the door and down the stairs to play with their new toys. Laura followed them.

"So, honey," Haley snuggled up closer to Nathan, "have I got a present?"

"Well, we'll have to see about that…" Haley gasped in delight as Nathan slipped his hand under the cover.

oooOOOooo

"How's my new baby girl on her first Christmas, then?" Samantha shook her head and smiled as Lucas caressed her distended belly.

"You do realise that a) it might not be a girl, and b) it's not actually her, or his first Christmas yet, right?" Samantha leant down to kiss Lucas. They giggled and Lucas looked towards the door.

"You know, I think the kids are still asleep…" he said suggestively.

"Correction." Tristan snapped as he walked past. Lucas shot an apologetic look at his wife and got out of bed to follow him.

"Hey Buddy. You having a good Christmas so far?" Tristan turned to face Lucas, a scowl on his face.

"Well, let's see, my mom just tried to kill herself, and I'm stuck here with you and Samantha the sap. 'I think the kids are still asleep'? Come on! How do you think I am?"

"Tristan, don't say things like that."

"Why, because they're true?" Tristan turned away from Lucas and retreated to his room, slamming the door behind him.

oooOOOooo

As the doorbell rang, Jake peeled himself away from the crappy holiday TV he and Jenny were watching to see who it was.

"Hey, Jake," the pretty brunette said.

"Nicki, I told you, I don't want you anywhere near me or my daughter. Jake started to close the door, but Nicki held it open.

"_Our _daughter, Jake. And I notice that you didn't include your skanky ho of a girlfriend in that list. Now why is that?" Nicki sighed. "Look, I just want to talk to Jenny on Christmas. Where's the harm in that?"

Jake paused, unable to find the strength to protest. He opened the door wider and let Nicki in.

"Jenny?" she called.

"I'm in the living room." Jenny replied.

Nicki followed the voice until she found Jenny sitting on the sofa, channel hopping. She turned her head and looked up, her face dropping when she saw who it was.

"Pumpkin, just hear me out? It'll only take a few minutes."

Jenny considered this, before nodding warily. "Ok, but I'm fifteen, so don'tcall me pumpkin."

Nicki was silent for a moment before beginning.

"Honey, I was only eighteen when I got pregnant, and Jake – your dad – was only fifteen, so no one expected us to keep you. But we did, and we both loved you very, very much. We took you out for walks, played with you in the park. Do you remember that, Jake?" Jake just looked at Nicki, his face portraying neither a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Nicki continued. "Anyway, when you were about four months old, I went back to college, and looking after you as well was tough." At this, Jake's face turned to a look of 'yeah, right'. "So I started to have to spend more and more time at school to catch up on homework I was missing, and eventually your dad kicked me out, because apparently I was a bad mother. Nicki looked at Jake, who just laughed.

"Don't believe any of it, Jenny, it's all lies. She never went to college, and I-"

"Dad, hold up. You lied to me for the whole of my life, and you-" she looked at Nicki, "weren't here to tell me the truth. So I really don't know who to believe." Jenny shrugged.

"Jake, can you pass me my purse?" Nicki asked. Jake passed it, reluctantly. "I have some pictures of us all when you were a baby. I thought you might like to see them." As she pulled out the photos, a slip of paper floated to the floor. Seeming not to notice it, she proceeded to talk to Jenny.

Jake picked up the piece of paper and turned it over. It was a cheque, with the amount of $3000 made out to Nicole Turner. Puzzled as to who would give Nicki so much money, he looked across at the name of the account holder. It was signed 'C Harrison'.

"Nicki," Jake asked, as he held up the cheque. "Why the hell did you get three thousand dollars from Carla Harrison?"

**So, that was it – I hope it was worth the wait! I promise ten times over to have the new chapter up sooner that this one was. I'm thinking of tying up some if the loose ends in this story, so if there's anything you think has been left unresolved, tell me and I'll try and sort it out for you. But until next time, ciao!**


	21. Just the start

**Hi y'all, if everything has gone to plan then I've got this up in just about two weeks, so I'm v. pleased with myself!**

**And a little note to everyone- my faithful reviewer **LilAngel413 **has changed her penname and she is now **TutorWife123**, just so's you all know. She also has a new story up and it rocks- check it out via the reviews page if you have a little spare time.**

**It's now three months after Christmas, meaning a week before Peyton's due date. I think everything's pretty self-explanatory.**

**Here goes…**

"Peyton? Honey, wake up." Peyton slowly opened her eyes to see Jake standing over her, stroking her hair.

"Oh, did I drop off? I'm so sorry, I'm just so, sotired at the moment." She sat up in her chair.

"No worries, honey. I just wanted to tell you that Brooke rang. She'll be round in about ten minutes."

"Oh, ok. I hope she's feeling better today. Last week she was really upset because Tristan wouldn't even talk to her when she went round to see him." Peyton hoisted herself up with the help of Jake, found her comb on the counter, and started to detangle her hair.

"He's probably just in shock." Jake replied. "I mean, it must have been a pretty big thing, finding out that his mom tried to, you know, kill herself. That he wasn't enough to keep her going. That must be hard for any thirteen year old to handle. Anyway, I'm going to be late." Jake rummaged around in his pocket for his car keys and picked up his jacket.

"Um, honey?" Jake turned to look at Peyton, who was frowning at him quizzically. "Where are you going?"

Jake laughed and rolled his eyes. "I did tell you, Peyt. I finally managed to get hold of Carla, so I'm going round there to give her the third degree."

"Oh, I'm going to hit her so hard for trying to ruin everything…"

"I know, which is exactly why you're not coming."

"Jake!"

"Ok, Peyton." Jake pulled out a kitchen stool and sat down on it. "Do you remember junior year, just before Haley and Nathan got married, and she threw him a party at his apartment?"

Peyton nodded, "And Brooke brought Nicki."

"And then you and Nicki had that huge bitch fight?" Jake continued. "Knowing you, my delightfully hormonal fiancée, that may well happen with Carla if you come with me, and I don't want you breaking tables and smashing windows at thirty nine weeks pregnant, okay?"

Peyton nodded, resigned to the fact that he was right. "You do have a point, I guess."

"So you just stay here and be good, while I go and beat the crap out of Carla for you." Jake leaned over and kissed Peyton on the cheek. "You know I love you."

"Yeah," Peyton replied, "but you don't love me enough to give me a proper kiss? Come here." She pulled Jake closer and gave him a long, passionate-

"Oh please, get a room!" Jenny exclaimed as she walked through the kitchen. Peyton broke away and placed her finger on Jake's lips, than turned to Jenny.

"Oh, by the way Jen, how is Leo?"

"Leo?" Jake looked at Peyton and then Jenny. "Who's Leo?"

"He's no one, Dad. And, um, Peyton, I'm going to kill you once my little brother and sister get out of there!" Jenny whispered and darted out of the door.

"Who's Leo?" Jake repeated.

"Oh, Jake…" Peyton wrapped her arms round him and shook her head. "He and Jenny have been dating for over a month."

oooOOOooo

Twenty minutes later, Jake had gone and Peyton was sitting on the sofa with Brooke, who was talking a mile a minute.

"So when Tristan came round yesterday he was really chatty, like he was just talking about everything and he said that he's okay. That he was a bit shook up at first but now he's settled down, he's realised that I need him to be there. Can you believe that coming from a kid?" Brooke laughed. "Oh, and mystery solved – the reason he was so off the last few months was because he had his first, you know, cold shower dream, and he didn't know what to do. He doesn't feel like he can talk to Lucas, you know? Oh, I can't believe my little boy is growing up! And my little, little boy, as in Jamie, he's coming back home tomorrow. I missed him so much." Brooke paused, seemingly unable to think of anything else to say. "So, one week left, huh?"

"Mmm," Peyton moved her hand to her bump. "It's weird to think that they won't be in there anymore, they'll actually be real babies that we'll have to feed and change and get up in the middle of the night for. I mean, I'm scared that I'll go into labour and I won't even know." Peyton pouted. "I don't really think I'm ready for this, Brooke."

Brooke sighed and leant over to hug Peyton, as well as she could with two babies in between them. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I've seen how you are with Jenny; you'll be a… well, you'll be a cute, if slightly dysfunctional mom." Brooke smiled and lifted Peyton's chin. "And you'll definitely know when you go into labour. You'll feel these sort of, well, twinges every five, ten minutes, and then whoosh, you'll wet yourself." Brooke motioned her waters breaking.

Peyton frowned and shifted in her seat.

"Did you say twinges every five, ten minutes?" she asked, to which Brooke nodded. "Oh…"

oooOOOooo

Jake cautiously rang the doorbell and waited for an answer. Now that he was there, he wasn't so sure it was a good idea. But it was too late as Carla opened the door, ran her fingers through her hair and let him in.

"So, Carla," Jake hung his jacket up and found his way into the living room. "What have you done that was so bad that you had to avoid my phone calls for the best part of three months? Oh, yeah, I remember – you paid Nicki to come and ruin my life, didn't you?"

"Jake, it wasn't like that…" Carla protested, her arms firmly crossed.

"Tell me then, what was it like?" Jake's phone began to ring, but he left it and carried on looking at Carla, who looked like she was trying to find the right words.

"Well, you remember the party Haley threw for Peyton when she first came back, and we met? It just felt like…" Jake's phone started to ring again, causing Carla to stop. "I guess you better answer that; someone obviously doesn't want to leave a message."

Jake shot a warning look at Carla, but flipped open his phone anyway. "Hello? Can it wait? Because I'm about to kill my ex girlfriend right now."

"Jake?" Brooke said into the phone.

"Oh, Brooke, sorry," Panic crept into Jake's voice. "Is it Peyton? Is she alright?"

"Hmm, she's in a little pain right now, but in approximately eight and a half centimetres time she'll be fine."

"Brooke, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yeah, unless you're kind of dim. She's gone into labour."

**So, there it is – the twins are coming! And I promise, this is the absolute last chance you'll have to name them, and I'm on a tie, so I need some more votes! Anyway, adiós and I'll see you soon, plus two members of the Sawyer-Jagielski family…**


	22. Picture Perfect

**Ok, so here it is, chapter 22… and with it, the Jeyton babies! I feel like I've waited for this for so long that I just had to get them out of there! Um, can't think of anything else to tell you except that I aced my exams (yay!), so here we go with the chapter!**

It was a warm, sunny, early March day, and in delivery room 2 of the Tree Hill Community hospital, Jake Jagielski was slowly losing all feeling in his left hand.

"Jake, I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Peyton screamed.

"Honey, this probably isn't the best time to be asking this, but what did I do?" Jake asked, wincing from the pain. He was starting to realise now that it maybe wasn't the best idea to tell Peyton she could hold his hand.

"You got me pregnant, you-" Peyton paused mid-sentence as she was gripped by another contraction, and Jake was sure he heard one of his fingers break. Luckily for him, this was the time the midwife chose to enter the room and set up camp at the end of Peyton's bed.

"Ok, Miss Sawyer, I'm just going to check how dilated your cervix is, so if you'll just give me a minute…"

"It better be nearly there because this-" Peyton's voice softened and she looked up, "It hurts, Jake."

"Don't worry honey, it'll all be over soon." Jake smiled as reassuringly as he could, considering that the last time he had done this was over fifteen years ago, and he was so scared then that he had hardly noticed what was going on.

"Yes, and sooner than we expected too. You're fully dilated, so get ready to push, Peyton." The midwife called across the hall for a couple of extra hands, then sat back down and looked up at Jake and Peyton. " Are you two ready to become parents?"

oooOOOooo

"Brooke, why did you break up with Lucas? I always wondered." a bored Jenny asked Brooke in the waiting room.

"What, honey?" Brooke snapped out of her daydream-induced trance and frowned.

"Well, you and Lucas must have dated in high school, because then you got pregnant with Tristan, right?"

"Right…" Brooke replied, unsure as how to explain the whole Peyton-Lucas situation back then, if Jenny asked.

"All I was wondering was, how come you broke up? I mean, you had a kid together."

"Jen, your dad and your real mom had a kid too, and they still broke up."

"Yeah, but Nicki is a self absorbed, heartless bitch, and you're not. Plus, you and Luke would have made way more sense as a couple than my parents ever did."

Brooke sighed, not sure whether what she was about to tell Jenny was true or not. "Lucas and I, in the end, broke up because we weren't the right people for each other, I guess."

"God, that sucks." Jenny took a sip from the cup of water she had in her hand. "How long has it been now? I think I might ring Leo."

Brooke checked her watch. "Um, almost five hours. I guess I should startcalling the others; if I know the speed your future stepmom likes to do things at, it shouldn't be too long now…"

oooOOOooo

Peyton Sawyer beamed up at her fiancé as she cradled her newborn son in her arms. He was holding their daughter, a spitting image of Peyton, but with Jake's eyes. Both the babies nestled peacefully in the arms of the people who were going to love them most in the world.

"Jake, we did it. I can't believe we did it!" Peyton exclaimed.

Jake sat down on the edge of the bed and pushed back Peyton's hair. "No, you did it, honey. You did it all, and I love you so, so much. Shall I go and get Brooke to come in?"

"Just stay here a minute. Oh, look at how beautiful they both are." Peyton stroked the baby's cheek. "Just so beautiful."

oooOOOooo

"Ok, now I'm bored." Brooke sunk her head onto Haley's shoulder and pouted.

"How long have they been in there? The midwife came out, like, half an hour ago." Jenny added.

"Just be patient, you guys." Haley urged. "Maybe they just want some time with the twins before everyone else barges in and takes charge."

"I suppose." Brooke got up from her seat and bought herself a coffee from the machine, then sat back down. "Haley?" she grinned, "do you think they're ready for us to barge in and take charge yet?"

Haley started to reply but was cut off by Jake tapping her on the shoulder. "Hey," he said softly, "where are the others?"

"Oh, Nathan's at home with the kids and Lucas said he'll come up when Katie and Callie are in bed."

Brooke jumped up. "So, are they here yet?"

Jake let out a little laugh. "Yes, they're here."

oooOOOooo

Peyton placed the tiny bundle back in the crib next to her bed as Brooke bounced in and gave her a huge hug.

"Hey, P. Sawyer! How is my bestest friend in the whole wide world?"

Peyton laughed and looked at Haley quizzically, who explained by holding up a cup of coffee and six fingers. "I'm fine, thanks. As are our two little angels here." She leaned over and picked up the smaller of the two babies, passed her to Jake, and settled the other in her arms.

"Oh. My. Word. They are just adorable!" Brooke squealed.

"Have you two decided on names yet?" Haley asked.

"I think so." Peyton looked up at Jake, who nodded. "Madeleine Anna and Noah Jacob Jagielski." She shifted Noah, so he was facing Haley and Brooke.

"Madeleine and Noah." Brooke whispered. "They are like the luckiest little babies in the whole world."

"Yeah," Jake twisted one of Madeleine's tiny blonde curls around his little finger. "We think so too."


	23. Now the truth comes to light

**Hey y'all!So, Peyton and Jake have one day to go until they tie the knot, but not all out couples are so happy. I promised the whole Lucas/Samantha/Brooke thing would be resolved soon, and I promise, it's here in this chapter. Well, most of it anyway…**

**Enjoy!**

"OK, Dave. Yes, I will. My love to Helen. Ok, bye." Jake smiled inwardly and put down the phone, then returned to the sitting room, where Peyton and Jenny were playing with Maddie and Noah.

"How many times has he asked us when the christening's going to be now?" Peyton said, without looking up.

"No more than he had the last time you asked me, actually. No, we were just sorting out some last minute details for tomorrow."

"Wow, that must be the first time in like a month that he hasn't said 'Oh, when are you getting the twins christened, then?', and I've had to say, 'Oh, we're not sure we're getting them christened, actually.' Maybe he finally got the message." Peyton smiled up charmingly at Jake. "I really can't believe we're getting married tomorrow."

"Oh, look, Noah needs his nappy changing. What great timing. I'll leave you two alone." Jenny scooped Noah up and swiftly left the room.

"I know." Jake sat down next to Peyton and Maddie. "It seems like a week ago we were sitting on that bench outside, at that party Haley threw for you when you first came back."

"I know… So, what did your charming brother say?"

"He said that he's going to come round in the morning to pick up Maddie and Noah, so he and Helen can bring them to the ceremony, and we can get ready in peace."

"Oh, yeah, I meant to tell you about that." Peyton smiled meekly. "I was going to go round to Brooke's really early so a), you don't see me on our wedding day, because you know how much bad luck that is, and b), so I can keep an eye on Jamie while she gets ready. She really doesn't want to lose him again, you know?" she tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry. We'll just have to make up for all that missed time in the shower later on…"

"Oh, per-lease!"

"Jenny!" Jake called.

"Yes, Dad?" Jenny replied sheepishly from the other side of the door.

"Come in and get Maddie, will you? That way we can really give you something to eavesdrop on." Jake laughed.

"Dad, that is disgusting!"

"Oh, well, Maddie'll just have to be here when we-"

"Ok, ok, I'll take her." Jenny scuttled into the room, picked up Maddie's bouncer seat and paused at the door. "But please, just spare the ears, ok?"

"OK!" Peyton smiled as she pulled Jake down to join her.

oooOOOooo

"So, Mrs Scott, you're thirty-seven weeks gone, is that correct?" Samantha nodded, and Lucas squeezed her hand. "And your due date is…?"

"Um, May 9th." Samantha informed him.

"Ok, so we're just going to check you all over today, but we'll start with an ultrasound. Are you ready?"

Lucas watched in wonder as the little image flashed up on the screen. It was odd to think that in the early scans you could barely see the baby, and now its head hardly fit in the frame. Even though he'd seen it so many times before, he still couldn't get over how beautifully ethereal it looked. But-

But then something clicked, something that had been niggling away at the back of his brain but never forced its way to the front.

"Wait, did you say her due date is May 9th? That's got to be wrong."

"Um, I do have a name, honey." Samantha joked from the bed.

"No, don't- don't even talk to me. I'm out of here." Lucas picked up his jacket and left the room. Samantha excused herself, and, as quick as she could, followed him.

"Lucas! Lucas, wait!"

Lucas spun round on his heel. "How long?"

"What? Lucas, you're not making any sense."

"No Samantha, all these dates aren't making any sense. So you're due on May 9th, right?" Samantha nodded. "So you must have got pregnant around, I don't know, maybe early August. Oh, but that's strange, that's when I was in Charlotte!" Lucas turned back and fiddled in his pocket for his car keys.

"Lucas, it's-"

"No, don't even try to explain, because I'm doing that for you. We only saw each other four times during those whole two months I was away. Three of those times, Katie and Callie were with us the whole time. The only time they weren't, when I came home and stayed the night, we didn't have sex because Cal had a cold and we were up until three in the morning with her and then we both fell asleep. So that baby, the baby I was about to raise," Lucas paused and slid into his seat. "that baby is not my child." He turned the keys in the ignition.

"Lucas, please don't go. Lucas! We can work this out!" Samantha sobbed.

"Oh, can we?" Lucas's tone softened. "Look, there are only two things I want to know. Who is he and how long was I a fool for? Or am I still being a fool?" he looked up at Samantha with eyes of steel.

"He – he's a guy from work. We started… it started just under a year ago."

"A year!" Lucas exclaimed. "And when did 'it' finish?"

Samantha looked down and played with her bracelet.

"Oh, god, it hasn't, has it? Well, one thing's for sure, we are. God!"

Lucas pressed his foot down on the accelerator and sped out of the car park, leaving Samantha sobbing in the dust.

He drove until he was on autopilot and the tears were streaming freely down his cheeks. He was not one to cry but he felt as if his whole world had just crashed down around him. Everything he thought he knew – loving wife, perfect family, was a lie. And he'd been oblivious for a year? That was the worst part.

He wasn't sure at first where he was when he pulled up, but when he wiped his eyes, he recognised the building that held Brooke's apartment. He wasn't quite sure why he had brought himself here, but he decided to go up anyway.

She answered the door in nothing but a dressing gown, her hair piled on top of her head; she had obviously just stepped out of the shower, but she looked phenomenal all the same. Seeing her there just made him lose all his inhibitions and he stepped in close.

"Is anyone in?" he whispered frantically.

"No, Tristan's at a friend's for the night and Jamie's-"

Brooke was cut off by Lucas leaning in and cupping her face, stroking her cheek.

"I can't believe I didn't notice."

"Lucas, what's going on?"

"Just, shh. Shh."

Lucas's lips met hers and she melted into his arms.


	24. This Is The Day When Everything Changes

**Hey everyone – I'm sorry I've been away for so long but I did have a great time on my course, so I'm happy. But I just had a look at my chapter-planning thing and this is probably going to be the penultimate one, putting a bit of a dampener on things. But hey, we've still got Jeyton's wedding to go and what happened with Brooke and Lucas, so all is good!**

Peyton woke to find beams of bright sunlight streaming through the crack in the curtains. She automatically checked to see if Jake was awake, and, finding that he wasn't, picked up her specially packed bag and crept out of the front door, after kissing Maddie and Noah once each on the forehead.

_I'm getting married today! _was all that she could think._ I'm getting married to Jake Jagielski, the most amazing man on the planet, and we're getting married today!_

She drove almost in a trance to Brooke's apartment, where she'd been keeping her wedding dress so Jake didn't see it, and where she was going to get ready today. When she got there, Brooke didn't answer the intercom first time round, so Peyton rang it again. And again. Still there was no answer, so, although she knew that Brooke was probably just still asleep, she found herself assuming the worst and started fishing around her bag for her key.

When she reached the right apartment, Peyton let herself in and scanned the room. No sign of Brooke, but the bedroom door was slightly open. As she edged towards it, she kept telling herself, _there's no note. She hasn't left a note, so she must just be asleep. _Peyton took a deep, apprehensive breath in and pushed the door open.

_Oh. There's a guy. There's a guy in the apartment, which explains the fact that Brooke didn't answer the door. Thank god._ The man's back was towards the door, his arm draped protectively over Brooke, so Peyton couldn't tell who it was, but there was something familiar about the tattoo on his shoulder…

Peyton was on the verge of figuring out who had stayed the night, when Brooke stirred, realised what was going on and looked up at her, shock and fear on her face. She hastily pulled off the covers, grabbed a dressing gown and wrapped it around her, before ushering Peyton out of the bedroom and shutting the door quietly behind them both.

"That looked pretty cosy, Tigger." Peyton remarked, smiling at the fact that Brooke had finally got over Ross.

"Peyton, are you crazy? It was a completely stupid mistake. We were just… just don't tell anyone, please promise me you won't tell anyone." Brooke said urgently.

"Why the hell not? You're a beautiful, single woman who deserves some sex."

"But Lucas is a pretty stupid choice to have sex with." Brooke raised her eyebrows and turned towards the door.

"Lucas?" then Peyton realised why she'd recognised the tattoo. "Oh god, that was Lucas?"

"Yeah." Brooke sighed and turned back around. "It was stupid, he came round last night and I was half drunk anyway… He said something about Samantha cheating on him, I don't know. It was just a heat of the moment kind of thing. It won't happen again, so please don't tell anyone. I'm going to talk to him as soon as he wakes up."

Peyton noticed a shadow moving in the darkness of Brooke's room and nodded her head towards the door. "Well, you'd better work out what you're going to say."

Lucas emerged from the room and rubbed his eyes. It took him a moment to realise why he was in Brooke's apartment, and that she and Peyton were standing in front of him. Peyton looked confused, Brooke just worried and scared.

"I'll be back in an hour." Peyton said quietly. "You two need to talk." She shot Lucas a meaningful look and headed for the front door.

Once she closed it quietly behind her, Brooke cleared her throat and looked straight into Lucas's eyes. "So, this is messy, huh?"

oooOOOooo

Three hours later, Peyton closed her eyes and took a deep breath in as the car pulled over at the side of the road. When she stepped outside the door, she would be standing in front of the church where possibly the most important moment of her life was about to happen.

All of her wedding guests, save Brooke, Haley, Laura, Katie and Jenny, were inside, all sat down by now. Brooke and Haley both looked stunning in their royal blue bridesmaids' dresses and the two flower girls were making Peyton's heart melt. The real revelation, though, was Jenny. After Peyton had asked her to be her maid of honour, the teenager had said she would only agree to do it if Peyton persuaded Jake to let Leo come. Peyton was pretty sure it was an empty threat and Jenny would do it anyway, but she didn't want to run the risk, so she managed to get the boyfriend invited by none other than Jake himself.

Larry came out of the church, beaming, and signalled to Brooke that everything was all right to go ahead. "Alright, everyone ready?" she said, smiling. Only Peyton, knowing her as well as she did, could tell it was a false one, but she felt deeply indebted to her for putting on a brave face.

When she'd left Brooke's apartment earlier that day, she'd driven around for a bit, hoping to clear her head. Then, remembering that Samantha couldn't make the wedding in the first place because of 'work commitments', she swung by to pick up Katie and Callie. Samantha herself looked a mess when she opened the door, so different to the glamour puss who had greeted Peyton a year before. She had asked after Lucas, but Peyton lied that she didn't know where he was. It was up to them to sort things out.

Next stop was Haley and Nathan's, where she dropped off Callie and picked up Haley and Laura. All the things Brooke was meant to be doing, Peyton remembered, when Katie shouted in her ear for the millionth time.

Lucas was just leaving when Peyton and the others arrived at the apartment. Brooke was sitting in the corner, silently crying. Haley rushed over to her as Lucas had a hushed conversation with his daughter.

"Ok, I'll see you at the wedding." he said a few minutes later as he left. Right after that, Brooke stood up, clapped her hands entirely professionally, paused, then ushered Laura and Katie into the room where their 'flower girl' dresses were being kept.

Now, she held her head up high as she prepared herself to walk down the aisle after Haley. Peyton, standing next to her, watched her with admiration from the side. She knew that she wouldn't be able to pull herself together that much if she'd been through the same amount as Brooke had in the last year. Brooke swallowed and started to walk to the front of the church. Only Jenny left to go.

Peyton found herself thinking about everything that had happened since she had returned to Tree Hill. It's funny just how much can happen in just one year. Twelve months. 365 days. And this was the climax of it all.

Peyton stepped in so she could see the inside of the church. She could see her family and friends, all smiling and watching her. She could see Jake, a hint of tears in his eyes, standing at the front of the church. As she started to make that all-important trip down the aisle arm in arm with her father, she murmured quietly.

"Ok. This is it."


	25. Acknowledgements

First of all, chapter 24 is up so if you haven't read it, it's there.

Hey y'all! As the next chapter is going to be the last one (sob – it's sad having my first ever FanFiction come to an end), just thought I'd send out a big 'thank you' to everyone it is owed to.

**First of all, all of my reviewers – I couldn't have carried on writing if it weren't for your support and kind words:**

**jeytonlover**

**farmergurl5**

**yudelka165**

**sugary sweet**

**broodyandcheery**

**I Paint My Nails Black**

**lizzygirl33**

**kflaherty **

**OTHtutorgirl23 **

**grace**

**elin2002 **

**CurlyGirly**

**jessd4491**

**XxRetroHeartBeatxX**

**GoldilocksSawyer****  
****OTH.daddy'sgurl.06****  
****lilrabbitangel14****  
****brucas622****  
****Dayz N Nightz****  
****iftheyonlyknewthetruth****  
****litizreal****  
****Polia****  
****jeytonbrucasnaley**

**(I'm sorry if I left anyone off!)  
**

**And, last but most definitely not least, my faithful reviewer and FF friend, LilAngel413/TutorGirl123 – I couldn't have done it without you.**

**On the story front, I'm going to carry on writing the other one I have up at the moment, The Girl Behind the Red Door, and I have another story all ready to go. When I put it up kind of depends on the situation at home, because I can't get onto the site at school, but we're just about to get the Internet at home (fingers crossed!). I'm not sure if I'm going to write a sequel to this yet, but depending on what you guys say, I'm thinking about it.**

**I want to know what you guys want in the last chapter… if there's anything you feel I haven't explained, or just something you want to see, just let me know and I'll try to incorporate it.**

**So, here goes, the last chapter… hope you enjoy it and read some of my other stuff! Bella xxx**


	26. Everything Will Be Alright

**So this is it... hope you enjoy it, review, and see you soon! TF xx**

"Peyton, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Peyton said, unable to concentrate. The rest of the ceremony was a blur, and it was only when Jake kissed her that she really realised what had just happened.

_I just got married! Oh my word, I just got married!_

Peyton dissolved into smiles and tears of happiness as the reality set in. As she walked down the aisle for the second time, but with Jake on her arm now, she half expected something terrible to happen. It couldn't really be this perfect. But no, there were no uninvited guests, no one to break up the party. Everyone was smiling at her, wishing her well. It was… well, it was perfect.

oooOOOooo

Twenty minutes later, Peyton was sitting in the limousine with her new husband, on the way to the reception. She still had no idea where it was, as Haley and Brooke had sorted out the location. She had intended to keep watch out of the window to try and work out where the car was taking her, but Jake had kept her preoccupied most of the way there.

The couple were mid-kiss when the limo pulled up and the driver opened the door. Peyton closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and stepped out.

It was the river court. The same basketball court where all those things had happened – the Nathan v Lucas game that had started it all, all those confrontations, all those confessions, they happened right here. Except it was different, really different. It had been cleaned, tidied up; the old hoop had been replaced and down one side of the tarmac ran a long white marquee.

Brooke bounded up. "So, what do you think? It was my idea. I'm telling you, it took a while to get the hoop replaced, but we did it in the end. So?"

"Brooke, it's awesome. I love it!" Jake emerged from the limousine and put his arms round Peyton's waist. "It's perfect, everything's just perfect." she smiled.

"Knew you'd like it." Brooke grinned. "Now, Jake, we need you over here to…" Brooke whisked Jake off, leaving Peyton to gather her things and make her way over to the marquee. But before she got there, she felt a tap on her back and turned around.

It was Carla.

"Oh my god, can't you just leave us alone?" Peyton turned back around furious, but Carla caught her arm.

"I'm not here to cause trouble," she said quietly. "I just wanted to apologise."

"Apologise for what? Paying Nicki to come and ruin our relationship?"

"Actually, yes."

oooOOOooo

Fifteen minutes later, Carla was reaching the end of her story about her and Jake.

"After I broke up with Jake, I was bitter. I hate to say it, but I blamed you. I know it wasn't really your fault. I just, well, I saw the way he looked at you and I just couldn't remember the last time he'd looked at me like that. I was jealous.

"So I found Nicki and I paid her to mess things up. I didn't regret it until she told me how happy you seemed. Even Nicki Turner has a heart, you know." Peyton laughed a little at the suggestion. Carla ignored it and continued. "I felt really bad, I still do." she paused. "I'm going to go now. I just figured you deserve to know the truth on your wedding day." Carla smiled, stood up and started to walk away, but Peyton stayed sitting, still processing the information.

Carla stopped a second and turned on her heel. "You look beautiful, you know."

"Thanks." Peyton lifted her head and raised her voice. "Wait, stay."

"What?"

"Stay here. You should. I want you to."

"Really?" Carla took a step forward.

"Sure." Peyton nodded and the two women began to walk towards the marquee.

oooOOOooo

An hour and a half later, the lunch had been eaten, the photos had been taken, and it was time for the toasts. Jake's brother David had just finished his, and so it was time for the groom.

Jake stood up.

"Don't worry, I won't talk long, all of you know how much I hate long speeches. I really just wanted to thank you all for coming; it means a lot that you've shared the day with us. Thank you to my best man, by brilliant brother David, thanks to Lucas and Nathan, my groomsmen. Thank you to my parents, who've supported me all the way, and, last but most definitely not least, thank you to my beautiful wife Peyton. You're completely and utterly perfect. I'd like to just raise a toast to all of you guys, for making your way here and being here with us. Thanks." Jake drank a little of his champagne, as did the rest of the party.

Peyton cleared her throat and began to read from her notes.

"First of all, I'd like to thank the whole of the bridal party: my adorable flower girls, Katie and Laura, my beautiful bridesmaids, Brooke and Haley, who also helped me organise all of this, and to my lovely maid of honour, Jenny. You've helped to make today really special. And to Jenny, I'd like to say thanks for welcoming me into your family so whole-heartedly.

"Thank you to all of you for coming, thanks to the waiters and the band, and a huge thank you to Jake. You restored my trust and helped me be truly happy. I'd just like to read a little something; it's one of my favourites. It's called _Touched by an Angel,_ by Maya Angelou.

'We, unaccustomed to courage, exiles from delight  
live coiled in shells of loneliness  
until love leaves its high holy temple  
and comes into our sight  
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives  
and in its train come ecstasies  
old memories of pleasure  
ancient histories of pain.  
Yet if we are bold,  
love strikes away the chains of fear  
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity  
in the flush of love's light  
we dare be brave  
and suddenly we see  
that love costs all we are  
and will ever be.  
Yet it is only love  
which sets us free.'"

Peyton smiled, kissed Jake on the cheek and returned to her seat. As the guests started to talk again, Brooke came to sit next to her, handing Maddie to her as she did so.

"Oh thanks, I feel like I haven't seen her all day. Where's Noah?"

"With Haley." Brooke replied. "Can I talk to you a second?"

"Sure, yeah." Peyton stood up, shifted Maddie onto her hip and followed Brooke to the end of the marquee.

When they got there, Brooke pulled up two chairs, sitting down on one of them. "I just… well, I guess I just wanted to say thank you. I've had a rough patch recently and you haven't given up on me. And this is all at the risk of sounding really cheesy, but you've been a star. Thanks."

Peyton squeezed Brooke's knee, smiling encouragingly. "No worries. How did things go with Lucas?"

"Good, considering. Last night is going to be a one time thing, at least for now. I mean, in the long run, who knows? He's a great guy, but I've got Jamie's welfare to think about and he has to sort things through with Samantha." She paused. "But I'm going to get my life sorted out. We talked about it all; that's why I was crying really, because I realised just how messed up I got. But I'm going to start learning sign language, for when Jamie's a bit older, and I'm going to make sure I ask for help if I need it, because I forgot to do that last time."

Brooke pushed a stray strand of Peyton's hair behind her ear. "I'm so happy for you, P. Sawyer. You deserve this. All of this." She motioned at the marquee and the guests.

"B. Davis," Peyton replied. "so do you."

"Thanks, Peyton." Brooke bit her lip and looked down. "Anyway, I've got to go and set up at-" she stopped herself before she revealed the location of the reception that evening. "I've got to go and help set up the party. I'll see you later." Brooke gave Maddie a small wave and Peyton a smile, before disappearing into the throng of guests.

Peyton scanned the party, the soft guitars of The Killers playing over the speakers.

_But then you took me by surprise, I'm dreaming bout those dreamy eyes… I never knew, I never knew. But it's alright..._

_Everything will be alright  
_

_Everything will be alright  
_

Peyton saw Jake and his parents talking. She saw Carla laughing with tall handsome guy, one of Jake's workmates. She saw Haley and Nathan, Jenny and Leo, Larry and Karen slow dancing to the music. She looked over at Noah, in his daddy's arms, and down at her little girl, smiling her innocent smile.

And she knew that in the end, everything would be alright.


End file.
